Punjab CM Channi invites belligerent Sidhu for talks to resolve issues

Chandigarh: As resigned Punjab congress chief Navjot Singh Singh continues miffing over the first expansion of Cabinet, allocation of portfolios and appointments on crucial posts, including the Advocate General, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has invited Sidhu to have a chat and sort out differences, if any.

"Whoever is party president is head of the family. I had called him and told him that the party is supreme. I have spoken to him on phone and told him to let's sit, talk it out and resolve the issue," Channi told the media

Channi's reaction comes a day after Sidhu resigned as the state Congress president, saying he will fight for the truth till his last breath as the fight is for principles that he won't compromise with.

He said that as sought by the party high command, the government is appointing a dedicated team of public prosecutors and lawyers to handle sensitive cases like the desecration of a religious text and the subsequent police firing.

Earlier, referring to senior IPS officer Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, who has been given the additional charge of the director-general of Punjab Police, Sidhu said, Today, I see there is a compromise on those issues." In an apparent reference to the 2015 desecration of Guru Granth Sahib incidents in Faridkot, he said his first priority was to fight for justice the people have been eagerly waiting for.

"I see those who had given clean chits to the Badals six years ago ... have been given the responsibility of delivering justice," he added.

Sahota was the head of a special investigation team formed in 2015 by the then Akali government to probe the sacrilege incidents. Sidhu also apparently questioned the appointment of A P S Deol as the state's new advocate general.

Deol is a senior advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and has been a counsel for former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini. He had been representing the ex-top cop in various cases against him.

A system that included tainted leaders and officials is being brought back after being dismantled, he said, adding, "I oppose it." He was obliquely referring to the induction of Rana Gurjit Singh as a minister in the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Cabinet.

Singh was included in the ministry despite protests by some party leaders over his past. He had to resign from the Amarinder Singh ministry over allegations of impropriety in the auction of sand-mining contracts.

Sidhu said he could neither mislead the party high command nor allow them to be misled. He added that he has always fought for what is right and the truth.

"Main te aru, te laru. Jaanda sab kuch jave (I will take a stand and fight)," the Congress leader said.

Sidhu was appointed the party's state unit president on July 18 amid a bitter power tussle with Amarinder Singh, who stepped down as the chief minister 10 days back while accusing the party of high command of humiliating him.