Crisis in Punjab Congress continues

CHANDIGARH: Did the Punjab Congress had a close brush with the possible split recently that was plotted to dethrone Chief Minister Amarinder Singh?
According to the party sources, senior cabinet minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal had allegedly, at one stage, seriously toyed with the possibility of subverting the Amarinder Singh government rule in Punjab after hobnobbing with the opposition leaders, both, in the State and the Centre.
Sources said that inspite of reports about the Amarinder-Bhattal rapproachment, the party crisis has not blown away and it might resurface when charges of corruption are framed against Bhattal in the Chandigarh court.
The Amarinder camp had been insisting that in view of the coming Vidhan Sabha elections in four states the Congress''s anti-corruption campaign would get a beating if she continued to be in the cabinet after charges of corruption were framed against her.
The crisis, within the state Congress, which had been simmering for quite some time, precipitated in the wake of the AICC conference in Shimla when the chief minister had sacked his cabinet colleague Harbans Lal.
Bhattal is believed to have found a ready support from another senior Congress minister from the Majha region who had formed a group of about six disgruntled MLAs.
It was in this context that the chief minister had hosted a dinner at the Punjab Bhawan here last month to placate the rousing dissidence against him.
The chief minister had later also gone for a lunch at the Cabinet minister''s residence.
During her visit to New Delhi last week Bhattal, though found no hearing with AICC president Sonia Gandhi, was reportedly reprimanded for planning a coup against the chief minister. While she rebutted reports that she had been seeking to build bridges with the Akalis in the State and the BJP in the Centre, her constant anti-Amarinder stance has not gone well with the AICC.
After her return to Chandigarh on Saturday Bhattal, however, was not available for comments.