Punjab CM Channi to meet PM Modi today, likely to discuss paddy procurement
This is Channi's first meeting with PM Modi after the senior Congress leader took up the top post of Punjab Chief Minister recently.
FollowPunjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday at 4 pm. He might also meet some of the central leaders of the Congress later in the day amid the ongoing tumult in the party's Punjab unit.
This is Channi's first meeting with PM Modi after the senior Congress leader took up the top post of Punjab Chief Minister recently.
Channi had written to Modi seeking time for a courtesy call.
The new Chief Minister will likely be discussing with PM Modi about the central government's decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days.
Channi is likely to urge the Centre to immediately start paddy procurement in the state, which was scheduled to start from Friday.
Channi had sought the Prime Minister's personal intervention in advising the ministry concerned to withdraw its letter forthwith, allowing the state to start paddy procurement from October 1 instead of October 11, according to an official statement on Thursday.
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The Centre on Thursday postponed procurement of Kharif paddy in Punjab and Haryana till October 11 as the crop maturity is delayed owing to recent heavy rains. Crop procurement is undertaken by the central government's nodal agency Food Corporation of India along with state agencies, PTI reported.
All eyes are on CM Channi’s visit to Delhi amid a major turmoil that has gripped the Punjab Congress unit with the surprise resignation of Navjot Singh Sidhu as its president. Channi held a meeting with Sidhu, who is reportedly unhappy with some faces in the latest cabinet, on Thursday.
According to reports, there has been a breakthrough with CM Channi pacifying Navjot Singh Sidhu amid the crisis and the latter seems to have cooled off ahead of Assembly election due in a few months.
With former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his statement that he is quitting Congress where he was adequately humiliated have only added to the grand old party’s woes.
Congress is in power in Punjab -- one of the three remaining states with Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh being others. Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh both have been facing with as much power-sharing issues within the ruling camp.
