Sachin Pilot’s Punjab mission begins with a Congress feud

Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s visit to the party office on Delhi’s Akbar Road on Monday was much discussed in party circles as he came down to Delhi for the first time since being appointed the AICC in-charge for poll-bound Punjab. Incidentally, it was Pilot’s birthday and the party’s Punjab chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring turned up to greet him. With Pilot scheduled to visit Punjab soon, the two leaders learnt to have discussed state politics and the ensuing polls. Warring and former CM Charanjit Singh Channi have been caught in an intra-party feud which Pilot is supposed to sort out.

The Punjabi community settled in Uttarakhand will be in the spotlight during BJP president Nitin Nabin’s two-day visit to the state beginning Wednesday. Nabin will attend the ‘Punjabi Gaurav Sammelan’ in Rudrapur on September 10, where the party will celebrate the rich cultural heritage and traditions of the community and its contribution to the state. Party insiders say the outreach is significant given the fact that both Punjab and Uttarakhand are scheduled to go to polls early next year.

Busy with back-to-back meetings and a press conference at the Congress office on Akbar Road, Congress OBC department chairman Anil Jaihind couldn’t have lunch on Monday. When party MP from UP’s Sitapur, Rakesh Rathore, brought a box of laddoos for Jaihind as a courtesy gift, he was more than happy to eat two pieces to compensate for lunch. Rathore then asked Jaihind to join him for lunch, but the latter expressed his inability, citing a packed schedule of official engagements.