Pb Congress to hold 1st CLP meeting today

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress Wednesday said that the party would hold the first Congress legislative party meeting on the evening of Thursday — the day votes for Punjab assembly elections get counted.

Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu made this announcement after his meeting with the All-India Congress Committee observer Ajay Maken in Chandigarh Wednesday. "It has been decided that the First Congress Legislative Party meeting will be held on 10th March at PPCC office (Congress Bhawan, Sector 15) at 5 PM. All newly elected @INCPunjab MLAs are requested to kindly attend," Sidhu wrote in his tweet on Wednesday.

Congress sources said that if the party fell short of the required 59-seat mark, it would take their newly-elected Members of Legislative Assembly to Jaipur where it is in power in Rajasthan to preempt any horse-trading.

Sources said that at the same time the party would engage with independent MLAs to enlist their support to stake claim in Punjab.

Meanwhile, 12 leaders of the Congress party in Punjab attended a dinner party at the farmhouse of the former chief minister of the state Captain Amarinder Singh last night sending ripples in the party.

All these 12 leaders had contested the polls. Among those who attended the dinner were also two candidates of another political party, said the sources.

Captain Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress had contested the recent assembly election in alliance with the BJP.

The exit polls so far have predicted a victory for the AAP in the elections. Pritpal Singh Baliawal, former Congress leader and spokesperson for Amarinder Singh's party tweeted a cryptic message with a video of the party. He asked AAP and Congress to "be ready for shock". The dinner was hosted to celebrate Captain Amarinder Singh's birthday.

Punjab voted for its 117-member assembly on February 20 and the party getting 59 or more seats will form the government.