Navjot Singh Sidhu to be appointed Punjab Congress chief to end stalemate: Sources

Disgruntled leader Navjot Singh Sidhu is likely to be appointed Punjab Congress chief as part of the party's move to resolve the infighting ahead of assembly elections in 2022.

Santokh Chaudhary and Vijay Inder Singla will be two new working presidents of the Punjab Congress possibly to end the stalemate in the poll-bound state, according to sources. The official announcement in this regard is expected shortly.

Cricketer-turned-politician, Sidhu, has been at the centre of a raging rebellion in the ruling Punjab Congress against Captain Amarinder Singh.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will also overhaul his council of ministers as per the compromise formula. Assembly Speaker Rana KP Singh and MLA and Dalit leader Raj Kumar Verka are among the three or four new faces expected in the cabinet.

READ: Opposition Aam Aadmi Party always recognised my vision, says Navjot Sidhu amid feud with CM Amarinder Singh

The move comes a week after the Chief Minister met party chief Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. Sidhu had met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in New Delhi on June 30.

Sidhu had joined the Congress after leaving the BJP before the 2017 assembly elections. He quit the Amarinder Singh cabinet in 2019 over change in his portfolio.

In the last five months, his attacks on Captain Amarinder Singh have been public, and even called the chief minister a liar.

Also, read : Punjab politics | Navjot Singh Sidhu cannot be made deputy CM or state party chief, Amarinder Singh tells Congress panel

Last month, a three-member panel set up by party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi to resolve infighting had recommended that Amarinder Singh is fit to be the leader of the party in the state but Sidhu should also be given a key role.