Rahul Gandhi is Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad seat of Kerala.
New Delhi:
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi flew to Kerala this morning even as his party grapples with a fresh leadership crisis in Punjab, where Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned as the state unit chief yesterday.
Mr Gandhi – a Lok Sabha MP from the southern state – is on a pre-scheduled one-day visit to Kozhikode and Malappuram, during which he will interact with constituents and inaugurate projects.
The source said that he is scheduled to return to the national capital on Thursday morning.
Mr Gandhi’s visit to Kerala comes amid a (persistent) leadership crisis in Punjab – one of the few states the party still has and one of seven that will vote for a new government next year.
Questions have been raised over the timing of Mr Gandhi’s visit, especially since both Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also away from Delhi when Mr Sidhu dropped his bomb.
However, the Congress leadership has insisted that “all is well” despite the turmoil in Punjab. Mr. Sidhu’s resignation And Razia Sultana, one of the new cabinet ministers.
The cabinet met in Chandigarh on Tuesday evening and is expected to meet this morning as well, and Punjab Congress general secretary Pargat Singh has reportedly been tasked to pacify Sidhu.
“don’t worry, everything will be fine,” senior leader KC Venugopal had said.
If Navjot Sidhu cannot be persuaded to withdraw his resignation, then a ‘Plan B’ is already underway.
Reports indicate that either Kuljit Singh Nagra (Fatehgarh Sahib MLA) or Ravneet Singh Bittu (MP from Ludhiana) will be chosen as Mr Sidhu’s replacement.
The Congress’s diminishing sway over state-level politics predates the 2024 general election, and the party hoped that Mr Sidhu’s appointment – after the Gandhi family overruled Amarinder Singh’s objections – would ship ahead of the assembly elections. will stabilize.
Veteran Congress leader Amarinder Singh had resigned as chief minister 10 days ago after a prolonged and bitter spat with Sidhu over several issues.
Mr. Singh declared himself “humiliated” and warned Congress to support Navjot Sidhu; He called herdangerous for the state‘ and said he would make “any sacrifice” to stop him.
He also left no stone unturned in criticizing the Gandhi family.
“I was ready to leave after victory but never after defeat… If she (Sonia Gandhi) had called me and asked me to step down, I would have been. As a soldier, I would have known That’s how I have to do my job…” he said.
The Captain also said that the “Gandhi children” – in reference to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – were “quite inexperienced” and that their advisors were clearly misleading them.
After Sidhu Shocker, Mr. Singh lost no time in saying “I told you so…”; He tweeted: “I told you so… he is not a stable person and not fit for the border state of Punjab.”
Mr. Singh is currently in Delhi on a “private” visit; The reports of his meeting with BJP President JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah were rubbished by his media advisor yesterday.
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