New Delhi (TIP): A Congress panel seeking to resolve factionalism in the party’s Punjab unit recommended that chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh retain charge and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu be accommodated in a key role, as part of proposals to boost the party’s prospects in next year’s assembly polls, senior leaders aware of the developments said on Thursday, June 10.

The three-member committee, comprising Rajya Sabha member Mallikarjun Kharge, party in-charge of Punjab Harish Rawat, and former Delhi MP Jai Prakash Agarwal, submitted its report to party chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.

Over the past two weeks, the panel spoke to 150 party lawmakers and functionaries. Singh and Sidhu, who have been locked in a bitter verbal war, also met the panel. Gandhi will now take the final call.The committee made five major recommendations, said a panel member on condition of anonymity.

This included keeping Singh in charge, accommodating Sidhu either in the party or as a top minister, revamping the party organisation, reaching out to marginalised castes and give key positions to Dalits, and filling up vacancies in boards and corporations to fit in party leaders.          Source: HT