COURTESY HT NOV 27

Quit Cong if you want to go public with grievances’
Capt also rejects the suggestion for change in party leadership in the light of the Bihar election results
HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

Chandigarh : Rejecting charges of the Congress lacking inner-party democracy, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday said anyone was free to take their grouses to the party chief or the working committee, but internal party issues should not be raised on public platforms.

“If you’re a Congressman, you can go to the party president or the Congress Working Committee with any problem you may have with the party functioning. But you should not go out to air your grievances. If you want to do that, you can leave the party,” said Amarinder, amid reports of public dissidence.

The two-time CM said he had learnt this lesson from late prime minister Indira Gandhi when he was a Congress MP. “Indira ji had told me that internal party matters should remain within the party, and this still holds true for the Congress,” he added. Amarinder said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had not penalised anyone who had raised a voice of dissent but had, in fact, made them members of various committees, in true spirit of democracy, to bring in reforms. He also rejected the suggestion for change in party leadership in the light of the Bihar election results, stating that Sonia will remain the leader as long as she wants, after which the new leader will be elected.

Capt: Media making a mountain out of a molehill

Amarinder Singh on Thursday hoped that he and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu will continue to have cordial meetings like the one they had a day ago, where they talked about cricket, apart from a host of other things.

Amarinder said both were in good mood during the one-hour luncheon meeting, to which he had invited Sidhu after the latter expressed interest in meeting him. “I was satisfied and happy with the meeting, and so was Sidhu,” he added in a statement.

Quashing media speculation of serious discussions between the two, the CM quipped: “Contrary to what was being suggested, we did not make any plans for Punjab or India or the world. We just had some simple talks, during which Sidhu shared a lot of his cricketing experiences,” he said, adding that unfortunately, the media was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Taking a dig at the SAD remark on him hosting a banquet for Sidhu, the CM said while his former cabinet colleague had boiled vegetables, he himself partook a ‘missi roti’ with ‘dahi’ during the lunch. “Does that look like a banquet to the Akalis?” he asked. HTC