Sidhu skips meeting held by newly-appointed Punjab Congress chief with leaders from Amritsar

The cricketer-turned-politician was also not present when Warring later met the municipal councillors of the Congress in Amritsar.

Asked about Sidhu’s absence from the meetings, Warring said the former state Congress chief was away to Samrala.

“It could be some personal matter,” he said about Sidhu’s visit to Samrala.

While Sidhu visited former MLA Amrik Singh Dhillon at Samrala, he also separately met senior Congress leaders Lal Singh and Sunil Jakhar later in the day.

Talking to reporters here, Warring said he sought the guidance and blessings of senior leaders on how to further strengthen the party in the state.

Replying to a question, he said what led to the party’s poor performance in the recently-held Punjab Assembly polls will be analysed, but admitted that indiscipline and infighting played their part.

Among the leaders Warring met were O P Soni, Raj Kumar Verka, Gurjit Singh Aujla and Sukhwinder Singh Danny.

The newly-appointed Punjab Congress chief promised to take every leader and worker along to strengthen the party in the state.

Talking about Sidhu’s absence during Warring’s visit, Amritsar MP Aujla said, “All the leaders were present here to meet Warring. Many senior leaders had to cancel their pre-scheduled programmes, keeping in view the visit of the newly-appointed state unit chief.”

He said Sidhu would be the right man to answer why he was not in the city.

Former deputy chief minister Soni expressed confidence that Warring will reunite the party and strengthen it further.

Warring, along with party leaders, also paid obeisance at the Golden Temple, the Durgiana temple and the Bhagwan Valmiki temple.

During his visit to Amritsar, Warring was accompanied by Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and working president of the state Congress Bharat Bushan Ashu.

Warring was appointed the party’s new Punjab chief in place of Sidhu by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Sidhu was asked to tender his resignation after the party’s debacle in the Punjab polls.

Warring, who was the transport minister in the previous Congress government in the state, won the Assembly polls from the Gidderbaha constituency.

Ahead of the appointments in the PPCC, including a new state unit chief and the CLP leader, a section of leaders had been holding meetings and batting for a key role for Sidhu.

The Congress received a drubbing in the Punjab polls, winning only 18 seats, as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stormed to power bagging 92 of the 117 Assembly segments.