Punjab CM Amarinder Singh likely to meet Rahul Gandhi after return from Turkey

CHANDIGARH: On his trip from Turkey on Friday, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh will meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. Party leaders in the state believe that a decision on the fate of technical education minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who is tangled in a #MeToo controversy, could be taken. In addition, there is assurance of a new state president in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections though there has been no official talk on this.

Party sources said after reaching Delhi, Amarinder is likely to stay back for a day and if Rahul is available, the two leaders will meet to discuss problems happening in the state. The opposition parties have been demanding that Channi be sacked even as party incharge of Punjab affairs Asha Kumari has said that there is no formal complaint against him and the matter was not in the preview of the party leadership.

Speculations have also been heaped that Amritsar West MLA Raj Kumar Verka could be appointed the working president of the state Congress as the present chief Sunil Jakhar, who is also Gurdaspur MP, will be bundled with the parliamentary elections. Verka, who is a prominent Dalit face of the party, was earlier considering to be accommodated in the cabinet expansion earlier this year.“There is still no clarity of both issues and it depends on the chief minister. In case of Channi, it’s a case of propriety and the party may decide to set an example. Meanwhile, there has been talk of a new president every now and then but there has been no decision. Name of former president Partap Singh Bajwa was also doing the rounds,” said a party leader.On the Channi issue, Amarinder had released a press statement claiming the matter had been solved to the satisfaction of the woman IAS officer.

Meanwhile, Channi said he has not had any word with the party’s national president Rahul Gandhi or the party’s central leadership on the issue. “The opposition parties have tried to draw me into controversies in the past, be it a road built in front of my house or dragging my name into the mining issue, but they did not succeed,” he said on Tuesday.