Congresmen back Sonia

CHANDIGARH, MAY 18: A number of local Congress leaders have expressed their solidarity with the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who want...

CHANDIGARH, MAY 18: A number of local Congress leaders have expressed their solidarity with the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who want her to continue to hold the party reins.

While the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress and INTUC would jointly hold a fast outside the Congress Bhawan in Sector 35 tomorrow, as a mark of solidarity to their leader Sonia Gandhi, some other Congressmen have resigned from the Chandigarh Territorial Congress and other posts, even though the CTCC committee does not exist after its president Venod Sharma resigned. NSUI local president Harmohinder Singh Lucky has also faxed in his resignation to the NSUI chief, expressing solidarity with Sonia Gandhi, urging her to continue as party chief. Besides, Chandigarh Congress Seva Dal also sent his resignation to Sonia Gandhi asking her to continue as AICc chief.

Congressmen Subhash Chawla and Pradeep Chhabra, have appealed to Sonia Gandhi not to press for her resignation and continue to lead the party. Congressmen O.P. Verma, Sandeep Singh and Kamaljit Singh Panchhi have also appealed to their leader to continue to hold the reins of the party in the party8217;s interest.

Congress leaders Chaman Lal Sharma and Amarjit Singh Sethi, president and general secretary of the Chandigarh Nagrik Sabha also requested Sonia Gandhi to withdraw her resignation from the post of president of the Congress party. They also criticised Congress leaders Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma and Tariq Anwar for their untimely outburst.

The two leaders also cited Indian-born persons holding high positions in other countries, among whom include Herb Dhaliwal and Ujjal Dosanj, who were occupying the posts of Revenue Minister of Canada and Justice minister and Attorney General of British Columbia. Harbux Malli, Moe Sihota, Gurhant Mann were also sitting legislators in Canada and Khabra in UK, while Swraj Paul was a Lord in the UK.

The Youth Congress also held a meeting under the charge of Chander Mukhi Sharma, whereby a resolution was unanimously passed asking Sonia Gandhi to withdraw her resignation. Chandigarh District YC Rural general secretary Chitranjan Chanchal also sent in his resignation.

Meanwhile, other leaders like INTUC president Ram Pal Sharma, Subhash Kataria, Rakesh Gupta, Ravinder Palli, Kewal Krishan, Janak Arora, Bhajan Kaur, Satya Wati, Gobinder Bawa, Sham Lal Kanoujia and other leaders have also expressed their full faith in Sonia Gandhi and requested her to continue as party chief.