Chandigarh, Dec 21: Virtually ignoring Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's call for reconciliation, Punjab dissident Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal today maintained a tough posture against him and expressed hope that Congress president Sonia Gandhi would take a decision on the leadership issue "in party interests." "Amarinder had always ignored the interests of the party...There are differences between him and me on implementation of basic policies of the party," Bhattal, who is also the state's agriculture minister, told news agencies here.

"On several occasions he (Amarinder) took vital decisions at his own level even ignoring the Congress high command," she alleged.

"We may be liking SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) as a party, but we are opposed to SAD's policies," she said and accused the Chief Minister of openly pursuing the opposition party's policies.
Bhattal said even in the graft case against her, "he (Amarinder) did not even bother to consult the high command...After all I am deputy in the CM's cabinet."

She claimed that after hearing the grievances, the Congress chief had appreciated "our areas of differences with Amarinder."

Bureau Report