Amarinder Singh to meet Navjot Singh Sidhu over tea tomorrow, truce likely on cards

The invitation from Singh came ahead of the cricketer-turned-politician's inauguration as the Punjab Congress chief.

The change in stance happened first with Sidhu inviting Singh to his inauguration programme at the party office.

The tea party will be held at the Punjab Bhawan, after which they will proceed to the party office.

In the letter to Singh, accessed by media, Sidhu said, "I have no personal agenda, only Pro-People agenda. Thus, as the eldest of our Punjab Congress family, I request you to please come and bless the new team of PCC."

As a mark of returning the gesture, Raveen Thukral, the Chief Minister's media advisor tweeted, "Punjab CM has invited all MLAs, MPs and senior party functionaries at Punjab Bhawan for tea at 10 am on Friday. They will all then go to Punjab Congress Bhawan together from there for the installation of the new PPCC team".

Singh has already met two members of the new team and images of the same were also posted along with the tweet.

However, Sidhu was not part of the delegation that met Singh and the two are likely to meet tomorrow for the first time since the trouble within the party escalated.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday night appointed Sidhu as the new head of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). He replaces Sunil Jakhar.

The development came against the factionalism in the Punjab Congress between the camps of Sidhu and Captain Amarinder Singh.

Sidhu had repeatedly questioned Capt Amarinder's style of working and held him guilty of not solving the sacrilege case.

On the other hand, Capt Amarinder had accused Singh of not toeing the party lines.

Sidhu was dropped from Local Bodies portfolio in 2019 by Capt Amarinder.

The party wanted to unite the Punjab Congress by accommodating both the leaders as Punjab Assembly polls are coming.