Sources said they took off for Delhi this morning and only one of them turned up for the meeting (File)
Three of the four Punjab ministers who met Congress's state in-charge Harish Rawat, have skipped a cabinet meeting today – a day after he said Navjot Sidhu will have to remove advisors who have embarrassed the party. Sources said they took off for Delhi this morning and only one of them -- Charanjit Singh Channi -- turned up for the cabinet meeting which was held at 3.30 pm over video conference.
The four minsters -- Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Singh Channi and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria -- were among the rebel leaders who met Harish Rawat in Dehradun on Wednesday, with plans to demand the removal of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
Mr Rawat, however, told NDTV that at the closed door meet, no leader had asked for the removal of the Chief Minister.
In an interview with NDTV last evening, Mr Rawat said, "They (the MLAs) have said that they will accept the decision of the party leaders".
This though, was far different from what the MLAs vowed after a meeting on Tuesday.
"Captain should be replaced else the Congress won't survive... we will meet Sonia Gandhi over the issue," Mr Bajwa had said after the meeting.
"We feel all the poll promises will not be fulfilled, hence we will meet the central leadership," cabinet minister Charanjit Singh Channi had said.
The meeting was a fallout of the controversy Mr Sidhu's advisors Pyare Lal Garg and Malwinder Mali had kicked off with their comments on Pakistan and Kashmir.
In Facebook posts, Mr Mali suggested that both India and Pakistan were illegal occupants in Kashmir.
"It is not this or that camp who objected (to those statements). The whole party and the state have objections too. The party has a line on Jammu and Kashmir -- that it is a part of India," Harish Rawat had told NDTV.