Conciliatory signals from CM’s confidantes Sidhu should listen to

Wednesday, 10/07/2019

https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/07/09/conciliatory-signals-from-cms-confidantes-sidhu-should-listen-to/

CHANDIGARH : Apparently in order to break the impasse over Power Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s refusal to join his duties, the government has started sending conciliatory signals to him. Now the onus is on Sidhu to respond to the messages. At the same time, the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has started looking after the power department himself. He is closely monitoring the functioning of the power department particularly during these days while paddy sowing season is at its peak. The Chief Minister is also learnt to have convened a high level meeting of the power department on Wednesday to review its functioning as it is over a month now since the departments were changed and Sidhu was assigned the power ministry. On Tuesday, Rural Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa suggested to Sidhu that he should join his ministry at the earliest. Bajwa is one of the closest confidantes of the Chief Minister. It is highly unlikely that he may have made such a statement without the knowledge of the Chief Minister. A couple of days earlier, Local Government Minister Brahm Mohindra also advised Sidhu to join his ministry saying that power was one of the most important departments in the government and he should take the responsibility. Mohindra is also considered to be very close to the Chief Minister. On the other hand, the opposition has also raised its pitch against Sidhu’s long absence from the government. The BJP national vice president Tarun Chugh also wrote to the Punjab Governor, VPS Badnore seeking Sidhu’s removal from the ministry for his prolonged absence, alleging that there was a constitutional crisis in the state. Sidhu has virtually been left with no option other than joining the new ministry he has been assigned. He has virtually kept himself out of the government for over a month now. With the government sending him conciliatory signals, he should seize the opportunity and join. Otherwise he will have no case to defend himself. Last week three senior ministers in the government Brahm Mohindra, Charanjit Singh Channi and Bharat Bhushan Ashu accompanied by the Chief Minister’s Political Secretary Sandeep Sandhu met the Congress General Secretary Ahmed Patel with a dossier about Sidhu’s performance. While Patel had been assigned the job to resolve the issue by Rahul Gandhi, it is now quite unlikely that he may follow it any further as Rahul has resigned and remains firm on quitting. Sidhu has gone incommunicado for a long time now. He is reported to be stationed at the holy shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi, in Katra in Jammu and Kashmir. He has virtually cut himself off from the outside world. With two of the senior ministers in Capt Amarinder’s government suggesting him to join the ministry, the Chief Minister’s camp has played a strategic card. Sidhu cannot have a grievance to go to public with as he will have to explain his refusal to join even after an appeal from the highest level. He can’t play a martyr for any cause either, since his resignation is related to change of his department and not on any issue of principle or moral stand.