Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat
Veteran Congress leader Harish Rawat has expressed willingness to quit the post of AICC in-charge of Punjab. Rawat has written to the party high command requesting that he be relieved of the responsibility.
Rawat, 73, the former Uttarakhand Chief Minister, wants to focus on the Assembly elections in his home state. The state will go to polls early next year.
Rawat will meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi tomorrow. It is believed that he will discuss the brewing rebellion in the Punjab Congress with Sonia and also urge her to relieve him from the role in Punjab.
Earlier as well, Rawat had urged the Congress central leadership to relieve him.
Rawat's request has come amid as the disquiet between Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu is becoming noisier. The party is divided into two factions. While one is led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the other one is led by Sidhu.
Rawat, one of the members of an AICC panel set up Sonia Gandhi to resolve the Punjab Congress infighting, had held several rounds of parleys with Sidhu and Amarinder earlier to resolve their differences. He had even met MLAs and party leaders from Punjab to seek their views on the tussle between Sidhu and Amarinder. Rawat had suggested that Sidhu should be given an important role to strengthen the party in the state ahead of the polls. Punjab will go to polls early next year.
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