Best Lawyers in Chandigarh Verka visits Sidhu, terms it courtesy call

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 27

Raj Kumar Verka, who was recently given Cabinet rank, called upon disgruntled MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu at his residence here today.

Verka, former Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, is the first senior Congress leader who went to meet Sidhu after he resigned from the Cabinet following his differences with Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

Talking to The Tribune, Verka said, it was a courtesy call, which lasted for nearly half an hour. He said common subjects like development of the holy city and growth of the Congress were discussed.

Answering a query, he said, “Sidhu did not show any resentment against any of the Congress leaders.”

He ruled out that there were any differences between Sidhu and the Chief Minister and added that there was a minor misunderstanding which would be cleared soon.

People aware of the way politics function here stated that the selection of Verka to call upon Sidhu was akin to rubbing salt on festering wounds of Sidhu as he was elevated to Cabinet rank after the exit of Sidhu. As there are many senior Congress leaders in the district like OP Soni, Harpratap Singh Ajnala and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, all Cabinet ministers, but Verka was chosen over them.

Earlier, Dinesh Bassi, a Congress leader from Sidhu’s East Assembly constituency was appointed Chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust and five Cabinet ministers came to witness his taking over ceremony. Following this, resignation letter of Sidhu was made public.

Verka, however, strictly refuted the observation and stated that it was purely a courtesy call which was not directed by any Congress leader. “Both of us are elected leaders from the city and there were some burning issues of the city like hundreds of hotels inside the walled city facing closure need to be discussed,” he remarked.

When asked that in this way Sidhu should have called upon him, as he holds Cabinet rank, he said in the Congress there was no small or big leader.

After tendering resignation from the Cabinet, Sidhu has gone incommunicado, especially keeping distance from mediapersons.

About a week ago Sidhu arrived at his plush house situated in a privately developed locality on the city outskirts and started meeting his supporters from his constituency.

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