Punjab CM Amarinder Singh 'likely to quit' ahead of key meet as Congress crisis deepens

-

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has decided to put in his papers ahead of the crucial Congress Legislature Party meeting in Chandigarh on Saturday evening, sources close to him were quoted as saying by PTI.

The chief minister will meet the Punjab governor around 4.30 pm and resign from the post.

Earlier in the day, Amarinder Singh spoke to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and expressed his anguish and displeasure over his repeated "humiliation", the sources added.

They said Amarinder Singh took the decision at a meeting of legislators close to him at the his official residence in Chandigarh a little after 2 pm.

The move came ahead of Congress Legislature Party at 5 pm at the Punjab Congress office in Chandigarh. The meeting was necessitated by 50 MLAs writing to the party high command that Amarinder Singh be replaced as chief minister.

Sources told PTI that the current crisis is "serious" with so many MLAs seeking the chief minister's replacement just a few months ahead of the Assembly elections in the state.

Senior party leaders Ajay Maken and Harish Chaudhary will be attending this evening's meet along with AICC general secretary in-charge for Punjab affairs of the party Harish Rawat.

The differences in the party have been driven by differences between the chief minister and PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is eyeing the chief minister's post.

Sources, according to NDTV, added that probables for the post are being considered and that former Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar is the top contender. Jakhar, who is not an MLA, is believed to be close the top leadership and is considered a prominent Hindu face of the party.

Jakhar all but announced that Amarinder Singh was on his way out.

Trouble in the Punjab Congress has been brewing for long and Amarinder Singh was strongly opposed to Sidhu's appointment as PCC chief.

Sidhu has been at loggerheads with Amarinder Singh ever since he quit the Punjab cabinet as a minister in 2019. He had become more vocal in his views in the last some months.

Last month, four ministers and around two dozen party legislators had raised the banner of revolt against the Punjab CM and said they had no faith in Amarinder Singh's ability to honour unfulfilled promises.

Elections in the state are due in about four months.

Inputs from agencies



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3hKv4T9
FP Staff

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

Aditya L1 Mission: Spacecraft is nearing its final phase, says ISRO chief

-
Aditya L1 spacecraft is nearing its final phase, and manoeuvres to enter the L1 point are expected to be completed by January 7, 2024, according to ISRO Chairman S Somanath. “Aditya is on the way. I think it has reached almost its final phase,” the ISRO chief told PTI on the sidelines of an event organised at VSSC to commemorate the 60th year of the First Sounding Rocket Launch. Aditya L1, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, was successfully launched on September 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The spacecraft, after travelling about 1.5 million km from Earth over 125 days, is expected to be placed in a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1, considered closest to the Sun. He said that the last preparations for the spacecraft’s entry into the L1 point are currently underway incrementally.”Possibly by January 7th, the final manoeuvres will be done for entering into the L1 point,” Somanath added. Among other tasks, it will capture and tr
Read more