New Punjab Cong In charge's first task to settle internal rift

New Delhi, Oct 25 (IANS) The newly appointed Congress In charge of Punjab, Harish Chaudhary has his task cut out -- to deal with the internal rift in the state unit which has again erupted after Congress Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari trained guns at state president Navjot Singh Sidhu and former state In charge Harish Rawat.

Harish Chaudhary did not respond to calls on the issue but sources say that the Congress leadership is reaching out to all prominent leaders of the state. The first success came after party persuaded Sidhu to join the all party meet called by the Chief Minister on the BSF row, much to the relief of the party. Sidhu participated in the all party meeting called by Punjab Chief Minister to denounce Center notifications on BSF. After the meet he said, "People of Punjab demand parties to collectively stand against unconstitutional actions of Centre that demean state's executive/legislature using all resources at disposal, be it persuasive powers of Vidhan Sabha and parliament, go to courts leading a Satyagraha to reclaim our Rights."

After party's approach of reconciliation, the Congress state president, who has been critical to newly appointed Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, has toned down a bit. Sidhu said he will only raise real issues, "Punjab must come back to its real issues that concern every punjabi and our future generations. How will we counter the financial emergency that stares upon us? I will stick to the real issues and not let them take a backseat," he said.

Manish Tewari, on Sunday had said, "I have never seen such chaos & anarchy as what is playing out in Punjab Congress today. Repeated open defiance of AICC by a PCC President, colleagues squabbling publicly with each other like children. Guttural language against each other that even fish wives would not use. For the past 5 months it is Punjab Congress versus Congress in Punjab. Do we think that people of Punjab are not disgusted by this daily soap opera? Irony is that those who complained loudest of transgressions and aberrations were unfortunately and continue to be worst offenders themselves."

The Congress on Friday appointed Harish Chaudhary as Punjab in-charge, which has not gone down well with the camp which is anti Sidhu in the state, as Chaudhary was instrumental in the removal of Amarinder Singh and is said to be close to Rahul Gandhi.

Now Chaudhary has a tough task to manage the disgruntled groups in the party and also coordinate with Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Both do not share good rapport and Sidhu has been attacking the Chief Minister as he has been upset with the choice of cabinet and the appointments in the state's various bodies.