Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Punjab Congress in-charge Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday called a meeting of the party leaders from the state in Delhi.
A senior Congress leader said that the meeting was part of a series organised by the All India Congress Committee for different states to gather insights from state leaders on the pressing issues in the state.
Several party leaders including Punjab Pradesh Congress President Raja Barar, Leader of Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa, former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, were present in the meeting.
However, Navjot Singh Sidhu, a member of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee was absent from the meeting.
Sidhu has been reportedly maintaining a distance from Congress party’s activities for some time. As per party sources, the Congress may soon announce the new Punjab President of the party.
Navjot Singh Sidhu has served as Punjab Congress president for around a year, during which the party saw factionalism in the state.
After his 10-month imprisonment in 2022 in a road rage case and his wife’s subsequent illness, Sidhu has stayed away from active politics. In 2022, he contested the Amritsar East, but lost to Jeewan Jyot Kaur of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by 6,750 votes. After that, the Sidhu family mostly remained confined in their home town Patiala.
In January, Sidhu had met Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi in January and shared a picture of the meeting.
Grace Personified …… Met “The Iron Lady Of Indian Politics” , @priyankagandhi Ji today !!! pic.twitter.com/tAwlC1oO8E
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) January 10, 2025
Meanwhile, during the Congress meeting in Delhi, Partap Singh Bajwa, Leader of Opposition in Punjab is also expected to raise the issue of the proposed delimitation exercise.
Bajwa has pointed out that while the total number of Lok Sabha seats is expected to rise from 543 to around 848 after delimitation, the parliamentary seats would increase only marginally from 13 to around 18.
