The merger was sealed on Friday during a meeting between Badal and Rahul at the latter's residence here where Singh and All India Congress Committee General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad were also present, they said.
The Congress on Monday appointed the party's Punjab unit chief Navjot Sidhu as chairman of the state election committee.
Former Congress MLA from Barnala, Kewal Dhillon, and former Shiormani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh also joined the BJP.
'If you put your own party into the witness box, like what Sidhu did, and treat them as wrongdoers, then how will the people of Punjab trust the party?'
Ahead of a likely organisational and government reshuffle in Punjab, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met poll strategist Prashant Kishor at his residence.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi assures that the Indian government is prepared to bring back Indians stranded in the Gulf region due to the Iran-Israel conflict and disruptions in Dubai, emphasizing citizen safety as the top priority.
The BJP on Saturday accused the Congress of repeatedly supplying "oxygen" to Pakistan, and slammed the opposition party for its leader Charanjit Singh Channi's remarks questioning the veracity of Balakot air strikes after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the Congress is full of pro-Pakistan leaders who make statements against India's interests, and mocked the party for its letter that had advised its functionaries to toe the official line on the issue. Patra also criticized other Congress leaders for their comments on the Pulwama and Pahalgam terror attacks, accusing them of lowering the morale of the armed forces. He further slammed the Congress for claiming credit for the government's announcement of the caste census and said the party never carried out the exercise during its over 60-year stint in power.
"Congress state in-charge Harish Rawat is my good friend but who gave him the right to take such a big decision about Punjab at his level? What is the meaning of Captain's leadership now after the Kharge committee's decision to contest elections under Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi?" Congress MLA Pargat Singh said.
About 20 Punjab Congress leaders met in Ludhiana on Tuesday, with some of them batting for a key role for Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former state party unit chief who was among the participants.
In a letter to Gandhi, Amarinder Singh is learnt to have mentioned that there could be an adverse impact on the party's prospects in the upcoming and crucial 2022 assembly polls by ignoring the old guard and other senior party leaders representing Hindu and Dalit communities, sources said.
Jakhar, the former president of Punjab Congress, said the party had never named its CM face adding that it was only an exception that the Congress high command had declared Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the 2017 state assembly polls.
The post, which has now been deleted, read, "June 1, 1984'?' 'Saka Neela Tara'. A humble tribute to all the martyrs of the day one of the attack on the Darbar Sahib by the Congress government."
Sources said the party has also tasked its senior leaders to be observers at the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Haryana to elect its new leader.
Sidhu had replaced Sunil Jhakhar as PCC chief in July this year.
The last rites of veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Shivraj Patil were performed with full state honours in his home district, Latur, in Maharashtra on Saturday, with many top leaders in attendance.
Sidhu further said that electing a good chief minister is only in the hands of the voters of Punjab.
Congress leader Sukhjinder Randhawa and Brahm Mohindra will be two deputies to Punjab's Chief Minister-designate Charanjit Singh Channi, said party leader Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday skipped a meeting held by newly-appointed Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring with several party leaders from Amritsar.
Sidhu told Gandhi that he is working hard and will work harder now, and that he will join his duty as Punjab Congress president, Rawat said.
Former MLA Harshwardhan Sapkal has been appointed as the new president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), tasked with reviving the party in the state after its crushing defeat in the last year's assembly polls. Sapkal, a veteran politician, replaces Nana Patole, who held the position since 2021. The Congress aims to rebuild its base and prepare for upcoming local body polls, including those in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, and Nagpur. The party will also need to work with its allies, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), to strengthen the opposition against the ruling BJP-led alliance.
The panel, chaired by Mallikarjun Kharge, has been tasked with addressing differences between Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
"The film has been made to insult the entire Sikh community. We will not let the movie release in Mohali or anywhere in Punjab. The SGPC is united in this matter," said Rajinder Singh Tohra, a member of the SGPC.
Amarinder Singh on Monday held the Gandhis totally responsible for the rout of the Congress in the assembly polls, claiming that the party was "comfortably placed" in Punjab before he was unseated as chief minister.
Punjab Minister Anmol Gagan Mann on Wednesday said her Aam Aadmi Party will fight on all 13 parliamentary seats in the state.
The decision was reached after an over two-hour meeting at the Punjab Congress Bhavan between chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu, who had resigned from the post of the state party chief on Tuesday.
The party wants to give time to Sidhu, but if he does not agree, then strict steps can be taken, the sources said.
'People in Punjab put their opinion very strongly there and it looks like they will fight. But, there is nothing like that, and they find solutions to their problems'
In a major organisational revamp, the Congress on Friday appointed former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as general secretary in-charge of Punjab and Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain as general secretary for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Amid the factional feud in the Punjab Congress, Sidhu will be meeting All India Congress Committee general secretary Harish Rawat and senior party leader K C Venugopal on October 14 for a discussion on organisational matters related to the party's state unit.
She praised the chief minister for leading the party to "many victories" and taking Punjab on a "road to progress".
Expressing concerns over another round of crisis in the Punjab unit of Congress, Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari said that he is 'extremely distressed' after Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation as party's state unit chief and claimed that the only people who are happy with what is going on in the border state is the 'deep state of Pakistan.'
Sources said Sidhu's resignation has not been received by the party and its leadership will take a call once it reaches them.
The committee comprises Justice (Retd) Mehtab Singh Gill; principal secretary, home affairs; and Justice, Anurag Verma.
Ahead of their planned protest in Chandigarh on March 5, several Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders were detained in early morning raids at their residences on Tuesday and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann denounced the agitating farmer unions, saying they have turned Punjab into a 'state of dharnas' and caused huge losses to it.
The Haryana government transferred Rohtak Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya after an IPS officer's suicide and allegations of caste-based discrimination.
Amarinder Singh was ousted from the party and he later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Navjot Singh Sidhu quit as the Punjab PCC chief, triggering other resignations and plunging the party into a fresh crisis just months ahead of the assembly elections.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Monday hailed the party's performance in the Gujarat and Punjab bypolls, calling them a 'semi-final to 2027' and a clear sign that voters would reject both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
'The Congress is trying to cover up their anti-incumbency by highlighting the Dalit CM factor.'
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
