The four ministers -- Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi -- and around two dozen legislators met in Chandigarh at the residence of Bajwa on Tuesday.
The meeting is being held simultaneously with the interaction between the agitating farmer leaders and the government at Vigyan Bhawan, sources said.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here Wednesday evening after he complained of weakness following a fever, sources said.
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several central ministers and chief ministers and leaders cutting across party lines condoled the demise of former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday and hailed his immense contributions to the state as well as the country.
Rahul Gandhi had earlier talked to the MLAs over the phone ahead of the meeting of the AICC panel on Punjab.
In a series of interviews, Capt Amarinder Singh said, "Priyanka and Rahul are like my children. This should not have ended like this. I am hurt."
'Congress will try to use Malerkotla to woo Muslim votes in UP. Muslims across the country have definitely taken note of this move in Punjab. But they vote only for a party that can defeat the BJP. The Congress doesn't seem to be capable of doing that'
Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi was on Monday sworn in as the chief minister of Punjab, making him the first Dalit to hold the top post in the state.
'Punjab requires a CM who has solutions to Punjab's challenges, capacity to take tough decisions. Punjab needs serious people whose politics is not Social Engineering, Entertainment, Freebies and not regime favourites rejected by people in successive elections,' Tewari said on Twitter.
The three-time MLA from Phagwara served as a minister in the Cabinets including those of Beant Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Amarinder Singh.
Directly questioning the party's high command's decision on the appointment of Sidhu as the new Punjab Congress chief, Jakhar said that the person who was trying to patch up the rift between Captain Amarinder Singh and Sidhu was forgotten by the Congress party.
Sidhu said there would be no need for Amarinder to go for power cuts or to regulate the office timings if the state acts "in the right direction".
Sidhu resigned as the PCC chief and sent his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday.
Amarinder Singh told mediapersons that both Kovind and Modi had accepted the Punjab government's invitation to be part of the historic celebrations and that the modalities of their visits would be chalked out after the Kartarpur Corridor opening programme was finalised with Pakistan.
Speaking to the media persons in Delhi on Sunday, the Rajya Sabha member said: "I have declined the offer to be the next Punjab CM. I believe Punjab CM face should be a Sikh."
Donning a flowing white chola' and a navy blue turban and often escorted by armed supporters, radical preacher and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh has been quite active in Punjab for some time.
'Hopeful of a seat arrangement with BJP in polls if farmers protest is resolved in farmers' interest'
With the Aam Aadmi Party looking set for a clean sweep in the Punjab assembly polls, its leader Raghav Chadha on Thursday said the party will emerge as the national and natural replacement of the Congress in the coming days.
'The distrust of traditional political parties in Punjab is an advantage for AAP.'
The Congress fielded Channi from two seats -- Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar and Bhadaur in Barnala, a move which showed how much the Congress was banking on him. He lost both, and the party received a drubbing from the AAP.
Tewari shared an invite for the swearing-in of Mann on Twitter, but said he would not be able to make it as Parliament was in session.
He said that to concentrate on the upcoming polls in Uttarakhand, it had been on his mind to seek to be relieved of the responsibility of the party's Punjab affairs in-charge.
A meeting of the Punjab Congress Legislative Party, which was slated for 11 am on Sunday, has been deferred, with party sources saying that a consensus is yet to be made on the name of the new CLP leader.
The Congress high command has so far maintained that the party will fight the February 20 elections to the 117-member assembly under a "collective leadership"
Kishor had handled the Congress poll campaign in the 2017 Punjab assembly elections. The Congress in 2017 had stormed to power by bagging 77 seats in the 117-member assembly.
Categorically denying the charge, he slammed the BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra's claim that Punjab, along with other Opposition-ruled states, had expressed doubts and refused to accept the vaccination.
Ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress won one seat each in the bypolls to Patiala (urban) and Talwandi Sabo Assembly seats on Monday but the Aam Aadmi Party finished a poor third.
"The two (the Pradesh Congress Committee chief and the chief minister) consult each other, but the final decision is of Channi, who is the chief minister, not Sidhu," the former chief minister told reporters at the Chandigarh airport.
Amarinder expressed concern over problems faced by farmers living in border areas and called for an increase in central compensation to them to ensure effective and stronger border management.
'Sidhu's suggestions regarding formation of the new government were completely ignored, so he stepped down.' 'Channi's government is walking on the same path as Amarinder Singh's.'
'The BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab.'
Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal (94) became the country's oldest candidate to fight elections as he filed his nomination papers from Lambi on Monday.
'The Congress is trying to cover up their anti-incumbency by highlighting the Dalit CM factor.'
42 MLAs, including leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi, went to the assembly and submitted their resignations.
Congress candidate from Amritsar Amarinder Singh on Friday held Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal allegedly accountable for Operation Bluestar. At a press conference, he said, "It was Parkash Singh Badal who during the troubled period had instigated the innocent youth to disturb the peaceful situation of Punjab and later he met the then home minister urging him to go ahead with Operation Blue Star."
The Punjab CM said a young leader with a forward-looking approach would "galvanise" the rank and file of the party after the "unfortunate" resignation of Gandhi.
The Congress is likely to declare its chief ministerial face for Punjab on February 6 when former party chief Rahul Gandhi will visit the poll-bound state, party sources said.
Amid the ongoing crisis within the Congress in Punjab, its national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate on Friday expressed the hope that its leaders "talk more in private and less in public."
Nearly five years ago when he joined the Congress, ex-cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu had said he is a 'born Congressman' now coming back to his roots.
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