Punjab Cong legislators back in Delhi

The scene was set for a virtual power tug of war between two factions of Congress in Punjab as legislators owing allegiance to both Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Agriculture Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal left in batches for New Delhi after being summoned by the party high command for talks to resolve the ongoing crisis.

Sources close to Singh and Bhattal said the two leaders left for the Capital separately. There was no indication that Bhattal had moderated her position, though Singh's supporters claimed he had taken some remedial measures to address the grievances of dissidents.

Senior Congress leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Manmohan Singh, authorised by the party to hear the two factions, were expected to hold talks with Punjab Congress legislators, sources said.

The legislators, including Singh and Bhattal, would be heard by the high command tomorrow and the day after.

The two factions had failed to sink their differences even after three weeks.

While Singh had made reconciliatory moves and even changed some key officers in the chief minister's office, the dissidents maintained that their "real demand" was known only to the high command.

In Jalandhar, Bhattal today asserted that her faction would abide by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's decision on defusing the ongoing crisis in the Congress legislature party.

"As we have already conveyed our grievances to the high command and the chief minister has also admitted mistakes in his style of functioning, the ball is now in the court of high command, which will definitely take appropriate steps to remove our grievances," Bhattal told reporters at Soond village in the Nawashahr district of Punjab, after attending a rally to mark the 16th death anniversary of Choudhary Jagat Ram, who was gunned down by terrorists.

She dismissed as hypothetical a question about whether or not her faction would accept the Congress high command's decision if it turns out to be in favour of Singh.

"We are sure that the high command will keep in mind everything, while taking any decision and the final outcome will definitely strengthen the party and remove the grievances of party MLAs and ministers," she said.

When it was pointed out that the chief minister had already accepted his mistakes and even taken some remedial steps by removing two controversial bureaucrats, Bhattal said these steps were only on paper as both were still interfering in the government's functioning.