BHATTAL MEETS SONIA, ROOTS FOR SONI
Saturday, 05/09/2015
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
CHANDIGARH: Even as the process to recast the faction-ridden Punjab Congress is on, senior Congress leader and former Punjab chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal on Friday met All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of the party affairs in the state.
Party sources said Bhattal supported the likely move of the high command to appoint Rajya Sabha member and senior party leader Ambika Soni as the new Punjab Congress chief to bring unity in the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly polls.
It is learnt that Bhattal conveyed to Sonia during her 25-minute meeting that Soni would be acceptable to all factions.
Currently, both Sonia and AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi are holding series of meetings with various Punjab leaders to know how the state party unit could be reunited.
The ongoing tussle between party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Captain Amarinder Singh and state Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa for the last more than two years has divided the party into two distinct camps.
