A veteran of many political battles, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh surely knows how to checkmate his rivals and hold his ground. For the past few months, the political grapevine in Punjab had been abuzz with speculation that Singh’s brusque leadership style that has alienated an influential section of his party colleagues may finally force the Grand Old Party’s central leadership to clip his wings and even decide that the assembly polls due in the state next year will not be fought under his command. That Singh’s bête noire within the party, Navjot Singh Sidhu, known to flaunt his proximity to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, was taking regular potshots at the CM publicly further strengthened the perception that the CM was losing his grip on the party and its government in Punjab.
However, after days of hectic deliberations by a three-member committee appointed by interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi to take stock of the party’s worsening internal feuds and suggest a way of diffusing the tensions, it seems Singh has, once again, emerged largely unscathed. In contrast, Sidhu, who was until last week touted as the biggest likely beneficiary of this apparent mechanism to rein-in the Punjab CM, now stands isolated. Outlook has learnt that several Congress legislators who otherwise have reservations against the Captain’s working style made it clear to the three-member panel headed by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge that they “do not trust” Sidhu and would rather “prefer to continue working under Singh” if their personal grievances are addressed.
Over two dozen of the party’s MLAs had red-flagged a litany of complaints against Singh. Several leaders who participated in the consultative process confirmed to Outlook that these legislators have “made it known that it would be suicidal for the Congress to replace Singh as chief minister” ahead of the assembly polls. Several of these disgruntled legislators have also conceded to the Kharge-led panel that Singh must lead the Congress’s election campaign next year and that their “limited grouse against the CM was largely procedural and can be addressed without upsetting the power equations in the state”.
The Punjab chief minister will make some concessions over the next month by way of a reshuffle of both his cabinet and the party’s state unit. Sources privy to the high-level parleys say these concessions would largely aim to send out two broad messages – first, that Singh continues to be a disciplined soldier of the party who is deferential towards the wishes of his central leadership (read: the Gandhis) and second, that he is “not an unreasonable leader” and is open to accommodating his trenchant critics if this serves the interest of the Congress moving forward. In reality though, these would have little impact on Singh’s hold over the party in Punjab.
“There were a few common grievances that the legislators had, namely that the CM is not equally accessible to all party MLAs and runs the government through a coterie of bureaucrats who in turn are neither receptive of suggestions coming from MLAs nor civil in their interactions with them,” a senior party leader told Outlook. The leader said that these issues were discussed at length with the CM who assured correctives at the earliest.
Sources said Singh also agreed to the proposal for revamping the Congress organisation in Punjab. “The organisation at all levels in the state has largely been defunct. Singh agreed that this needs to change and several of the dissenting leaders can be accommodated in the organisational reshuffle that will happen soon. Of course, the blueprint of the reshuffle will be finalised by Singh, in consultation with other party leaders in the state and the centre,” a member of the committee told Outlook.