The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Punjab will meet in Chandigarh on Tuesday to elect its leader with PCC president Amarinder Singh and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal seeking the backing of party legislators to become the next chief minister. The tussle between the two key leaders of Punjab Congress has intensified after the party bagged 62 out of 116 seats in the 117-member state assembly to oust the Akali Dal-BJP combine. Bhattal has immediately rushed to Delhi to meet top Congress leadership after she was declared elected from her traditional Lehra Gagga assembly constituency, a close associate of the former Punjab chief minister said from her residence in Lehra village. She is likely to return on Monday or Tuesday when the CLP will meet in Chandigarh to decide the issue, he said.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh said that it was left to the 62 MLAs of the party to decide who will become the state's chief minister. Senior Congress leaders Moti Lal Vora, Ahmed Patel and Hari Prashad would be among others who will attend the CLP meeting, Singh said. Close associates of Bhatttal, in the state capital and at her native village, said that she had been the chief minister of Punjab once and can't be ignored.
Bureau Report