Chandigarh, September 18:
Ahead of a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in Punjab on Saturday evening, the party’s high command is learnt to have asked Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to resign to facilitate the election of a new leader. The embattled Chief Minister, however, appears unrelenting so far. Sources said he spoke to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the morning and told her he is being humiliated and he will instead resign from the party.
The dramatic events in the Punjab Congress are unfolding even as the AICC has decided to convene a meeting of the CLP this evening in the wake of a fresh letter by a section of the MLAs.
Sources said former PCC president Sunil Jakhar, a one-time associate of the Chief Minister, is among the names being considered for the chief minister’s post.
There are two different versions of the Gandhi-Singh telephonic conversation. Sources said Gandhi called him in the morning and told him about the party’s wish. He is likely to submit his resignation shortly,” a source privy to the development said.
Another source said he has told her that he will quit the party. It is learnt that the top party leadership got into action in the morning to convey the wish of the party high command and the Punjab Congress MLAs.
The Congress had, Saturday midnight, announced that a CLP meeting would be held after a representation from party MLAs. Sources said a one-line resolution will be passed in the CLP authorising the Congress president to nominate the CLP leader, a source said.
The party it seems is planning to nominate the next chief minister soon and is also preparing that for the swearing-in soon before the inauspicious days of shradh begin.
