More than 20 Punjab Congress leaders, including former state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, met at Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district on Saturday. Sukhpal Khaira, the Congress MLA from Bholath who was present at the meeting, said it was part of an effort to ensure the party’s revival in Punjab.

After facing a debacle in the recently concluded Assembly elections, Congress leaders are lobbying to appoint Khaira as the leader of opposition. Some members said Sidhu should be appointed Punjab Congress chief following his removal from the post by the Congress high command earlier this month.

A former MLA told The Indian Express that they discussed the debacle as well as future plans and expressed their consent to make Khaira the LOP and Sidhu the Punjab Congress chief since he has a clean image.

Khaira said that 24 “like-minded” Congress leaders — including MLAs, ex-MLAs, 2022 election candidates and the former PCC chief — met at the residence of former MLA Navtej Singh Cheema at Sultanpur Lodhi. “We are sure the party will take future decisions on merit and honesty in accordance with the mandate of ‘badlav’ (change),” said Khaira in a tweet.

Following the meeting, Sidhu tweeted, “We will fight for the rights of Punjab with good intentions and sincerity #JittegaPunjab.”

Some Congress leaders took potshots at the meeting. Congress MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu tweeted a picture of Sidhu’s meeting captioning, “Vele Di Namaz, Kuvele Diyan Takkran.”