On Saturday, ahead of a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held by the AICC, the Congress high command pushed Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to quit in a day of high political drama. Sonia Gandhi, the party’s president, will make the final choice on the new chief minister.
According to party insiders, former Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar is a front-runner since the Congress intends to install a Hindu politician as Chief Minister after appointing Jat Sikh Navjot Singh Sidhu as PCC chairman. Captain Amarinder handed in his resignation to Governor Banwarilal Purohit before the CLP meeting, citing the Congress leadership’s ongoing humiliation over the previous two months as a reason. After presenting his resignation letter to the Governor, Capt. Amarinder stated, “I was humiliated three times by the Congress leadership in the last two months.they invited the MLAs to Delhi twice and now convened a CLP here in Chandigarh today.” He went on to say that he had told Congress President Sonia Gandhi of his intention to quit the previous morning. Capt. Amarinder met with a few MLAs and MPs at his official house before meeting with the Governor.
“It appears that they (the Congress high leadership) do not trust me and do not believe I am capable of doing my responsibilities. But the way they handled the whole thing made me feel humiliated,” he remarked. He sneered at the party’s leadership, saying, “Let them appoint anyone they trust.” Capt. Amarinder said he will decide on his next political move after consulting with his followers, who had backed him for more than five decades.
The one-line resignation letter stated, “I hereby submit my resignation as Chief Minister, as well as that of my Council of Ministers.” Capt. Amarinder Singh slammed Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, calling him anti-national, violent, unstable, and inept. He further stated that he would oppose “tooth and nail” any attempt to make the former cricketer the chief minister.
“Supporting Sidhu, who was plainly linked to Pakistan and a threat as well as a disaster for Punjab and the country, was out of the question. “I will not allow such a guy to harm us; I will continue to combat matters that are detrimental to our State and its people,” the outgoing Chief Minister stated. In an apparent attempt to resolve the power struggle between Capt. Amarinder and state party president Navjot Singh Sidhu, the AICC named Mr Sidhu as president of the PPCC on July 18. Since the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Capt. Amarinder and Mr Sidhu have been at odds.
