After Captain Amarinder Singh was asked to step down as the Chief Minister of Punjab, on Saturday, he resigned from the post.
It was learned that earlier in the day, Congress high command Sonia Gandhi was supposed to have asked Captain Amarinder to step down to expedite the election of a new leader. The Chief Minister, however, refused to give in. Sources said Amarinder spoke to Sonia this morning and told her he would rather resign from the party than face such “humiliation”. Punjab goes to the polls early next year.
The Congress leader, who has been in the party for a very long time replied if asked he would leave Congress said, “I can’t answer that right now.” Captain Amarinder also hinted at quitting the party, speaking to reporters Saturday. “I am feeling humiliated. I have been in politics for 52 years. I will talk to my supporters, and then I will decide on my future in politics,”
He further told NDTV, “For the sake of my country, I’ll oppose his (Navjot Singh Sidhu) name for Chief Minister of Punjab. It’s a matter of national security. Pakistan PM Imran Khan is his friend. Sidhu has a relation with Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.”
He added, “Navjot Singh Sidhu is an incompetent man. He was a total disaster in my government. He couldn’t run one ministry I gave him. He did not clear files for seven months,” the former Chief Minister, popularly known as Captain, said.
Sources report that former PCC President, Sunil Jakhar, who was once an associate of the Chief Minister, is among the names being considered for the chief minister’s post.
Captain Amarinder met the Governor at Raj Bhavan and handed him his resignation letter.
In the meantime, two resolutions were passed in the Congress Legislature Party meeting at the party headquarters in Chandigarh on Saturday. The first one was passed to recognize the outgoing CLP leader — who headed the Punjab government with utmost ability, gave good governance to the state, faced and handled the challenges, said AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab Harish Rawat. In the second resolution, Punjab CLP has authorized Congress President (CP) to select its next leader. “We will inform about the next CLP leader once it is conveyed to us by the CP,” Rawat said.