‘Last chance for redemption of Punjab’: Navjot Sidhu lists 13 points in letter to Sonia Gandhi
Sidhu asked Gandhi to consider these points and direct the state government to act on them.
In a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the party’s Punjab unit leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has listed 13 matters that the state government should address ahead of the Assembly elections next year.
Delivering justice in sacrilege incidents, tackling the drug menace in the state, providing employment and rejecting the Centre’s contentious agriculture laws are among the matters listed by Sidhu in the letter dated October 15. He shared the letter on his Twitter handle on Sunday.
Sidhu said that the points highlighted upon by him include “priority areas” and promises made by the Congress before 2017 polls in Punjab.
“I express with a lot of pain in my heart that this is Punjab’s last chance for resurrection and redemption,” Sidhu wrote. He said that Punjab was for decades the richest state in India, but is now the most indebted one.
“Punjab is submerged under lakhs of crores of debt due to gross financial mismanagement over last 25 years and diversion of public resources,” Sidhu wrote.
He also stressed on the need to ensure cheap and 24-hour power supply to the citizens and demanded that a white paper should be issued on power purchase agreements of the state government.
Other points that Sidhu raised include establishing a state-run corporation for liquor trade, increasing revenue through sand mining and a special package of Rs 25 crore for the development of constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Castes community.
Sidhu asked Gandhi to consider these points and direct the state government to act on them.
The Congress has been facing a political crisis within the party’s Punjab unit with months to go for the Assembly polls next year. The elections are likely to be held in February or March.
Sidhu had resigned as the Punjab Congress chief on September 28, just two months after being appointed to the post. He was reportedly upset about the changes introduced by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in the Punjab Cabinet. However, the Congress leadership did not accept his resignation.
After a meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on October 15, he said that the contentious matters had been sorted out. Congress’ in-charge for Punjab Harish Rawat said that Sidhu will continue as the Punjab Congress chief.