oppn parties Sidhu Sounds A Warning For Congress High Command

Story Of The Day

As The Captain Promised, Indian Women Win The Hockey Gold

October 04, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh has claimed that Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka refused to meet Congress leaders during his recent Assam visit. He alleged that the group was told to stay away because its outreach was "an Aam Aadmi Party initiative"
  • Indian Railways is undertaking a major expansion of the Guwahati rail network, including new lines, the second Saraighat Bridge, station redevelopment and a Mega Coaching Complex. The projects are intended to improve connectivity, passenger facilities and train operations across the Northeast
  • 150 people were arrested in Delhi as the CJP protest over the resignation of CEC Gynaesh Kumar entered the second day
  • The Centre ordered all AGMUT cadre segments to report within 48 hours any FIR, arrest, adverse court order or investigative action involving IAS, IPS, DANICS and DANIPS officers. The move follows concerns over delays in reporting investigations by agencies including the CBI, ED and anti-corruption bodies
  • India brought back alleged international narco-trafficking kingpin Navpreet Singh from Türkiye, where he had allegedly obtained citizenship under the false identity Navab Virk. Home Minister Amit Shah said Singh was accused of running heroin and methamphetamine trafficking routes from Afghanistan into India
  • Jack Dorsey’s decentralised messaging application Bitchat disappeared from Apple's and Google's app stores in India after Apple said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had ordered its removal under Section 69A of the IT Act. The app's website was also inaccessible through several Indian internet providers
  • The RBI reiterated its cautious stance on private cryptocurrencies, while backing the underlying technologies such as distributed ledgers and tokenisation. Governor Sanjay Malhotra said central-bank digital currencies could offer an alternative for improving cross-border payments
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India must continue building economic resilience amid global uncertainty, highlighting strategic-resource security, diversified supply chains, skills and domestic capabilities in critical minerals, rare earths, semiconductors and small modular reactors. She was speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi
  • RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra warned that a slowdown in the global AI investment cycle could trigger sharp repricing of financial assets, while saying any correction in elevated AI valuations in advanced economies could potentially redirect capital towards India. He also identified cyber risk as a major financial-stability concern arising from increasingly sophisticated AI
  • India lost 4-0 to Brazil in the historic international friendly at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium, with Estevao, Pedro and Samuel Lino, who scored twice, finding the net. The match was Brazil’s first senior men’s international on Indian soil
  • Seventeen-year-old Kumkum Mohod won India’s first women’s individual recurve gold at the Asian Games, beating South Korea’s Oh Yejin in a shoot-off. The victory also secured an Olympic quota place for India for the 2028 Los Angeles Games
  • Pranavi Urs became the first Indian woman to win an individual Asian Games golf gold, finishing one stroke ahead of China’s Yin Ruoning at 15-under 265. India also took silver in the women’s team event
  • Wrestler Aman Sehrawat won the men’s 57kg freestyle gold, defeating reigning world champion Han Chong Song of North Korea 11-7 after recovering from a 7-6 deficit late in the bout
  • India’s men’s hockey team retained the Asian Games gold, defeating Malaysia 5-1 in the final. The victory also secured India a place in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
  • India retained the Asian Games men’s T20 cricket title, beating Pakistan by 19 runs in the final. Abhishek Sharma’s 61 off 28 balls and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 51 off 22 helped India post 211/6 before Pakistan finished on 192/6
Asian Games: October 3 gold medallists: Kumkum Mohod (Archery), Pranavi Urs (Golf), Aman Sehrawat (Wrestling), India men’s cricket team (Cricket), and India men’s hockey team (Hockey) /////// India finishes its campaign in 4th position in the Asian Games medal table: 21 gold, 27 silver, 37 bronze; 85 medals.
oppn parties
Sidhu Sounds A Warning For Congress High Command

By Yogendra
First publised on 2022-01-12 09:24:14

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Yogendra is freelance writer

What Navjot Singh Sidhu told news reporters a couple of days back is absolutely true in a democracy. People elect their representatives in elections and then these representatives elect the chief minister who is the first among equals. But it was the manner and the context in which he said that was interesting.

Sidhu reportedly took umbrage when reporters asked him who the Congress high command will name as chief minister. Immediately, he countered that it was not the high command but the people of Punjab, through their elected representatives, who will select the chief minister.

In doing so, he undermined the position of the party high command and went against Congress traditions. It is no secret that whenever the party has gone to polls without a strong candidate as its face, the chief minister has always been 'appointed' by the high command. The 'election' by the MLAs is just a charade. It is all decided in Delhi and party observers descend on the state capital to drill that into the heads of MLAs who then obediently and unanimously vote for the selected candidate. It is not going to be any different in Punjab this time, if the Congress wins, despite what Sidhu thinks.

Maybe it is posturing on Sidhu's part as his burning ambition to be chief minister of Punjab is universally known. Hence, he is letting the high command know that if it comes to a crunch, he will have the support of a majority of MLAs and they will vote in his favour in case the high command has another candidate in mind.

Sidhu has already divided the state unit once by forcing Amarinder Singh to quit, first as chief minister and then from the party. The infighting has spoiled Congress' chances to win. Singh's replacement, C S Channi, has not given a good account of himself in the limited time he has had to repair the damage. With the opposition, especially AAP, upping the ante, Sidhu will do well to focus on winning the elections rather than rattling the party high command. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Written Grounds Are The Price Of An Arrest

Written Grounds Are The Price Of An Arrest

 7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.