Truce in sight? Amarinder to attend Sidhu's elevation ceremony

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has invited party leaders for tea on Friday from where they will "all go for the installation" of the new Congress team under Navjot Singh Sidhu, his media adviser said, signalling truce in the dissension-riven party.

In a apparent bid to bury the differences with the CM, Sidhu too in a separate letter requested Amarinder Singh to come for the installation ceremony and said he had "no personal agenda".

"My resolve and commitment on Punjab's issues and fulfilling high command's pro-people 18-point agenda for the welfare of every Punjabi is well-known to you and all," Sidhu said.

"Thus as the eldest of our Punjab Congress family, I request you to please come and bless the new team," wrote Sidhu.

The tweet by the CM's media adviser came after Kuljit Singh Nagra and Sangat Singh Gilzian, two of the four newly appointed working presidents for the state party unit, extended a formal invite to the CM at his farmhouse in Mohali's Siswan for the installation ceremony.

The invitation letter was signed by over 55 legislators.

Sidhu and Amarinder Singh have been at loggerheads for the past some time, with the Amritsar (East) MLA recently attacking the CM over the desecration cases.

The chief minister had opposed Sidhu's appointment as the state Congress chief and had said he won't meet him until the cricketer-turned-politician apologises for his "derogatory" tweets against him.

On Thursday, after the Congress leaders met the chief minister, the media adviser tweeted, "Punjab CM @capt_amarinder has invited all @INCPunjab MLAs, MPs and senior party functionaries at Punjab Bhawan for tea at 10 am on Friday. They will all then go to Punjab Congress Bhawan together from there for the installation of the new PPCC team."

Nagra told reporters that the CM will come to the event.

"An invitation from the pardhan sahib (PPCC president), ministers and MLAs has been given to the CM. He has accepted the invitation and will reach there to give his blessings," said Nagra.

Incharge of Punjab affairs at the AICC, Harish Rawat, is also expected to attend the event.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had on Sunday appointed Sidhu as the new president of the party's Punjab unit, notwithstanding the strong opposition from Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Gandhi also appointed four working presidents, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Pawan Goel and Kuljit Singh Nagra, to assist Sidhu in the run-up to the state Assembly elections next year.

On Wednesday, several legislators backing Sidhu had said that there was no need for him to tender an apology to Amarinder Singh.

Tensions between the CM and Sidhu flared up in April this year after the Punjab and Haryana High court quashed a probe report into 2015 Kotkapura police firing incident.

Sidhu had attacked the CM through his tweets over the issue of alleged delay in justice in the 2015 sacrilege and subsequent police firing incidents.

The Amritsar legislator had resigned as minister in 2019 after he was divested of his Local Bodies portfolio.

Sidhu had joined the Congress after leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party before the 2017 assembly polls.