Out but not defeated, a visibly agitated Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday declared that he will stay in politics and had his options open, while making it clear that he would never accept an “incapable” Navjot Singh Sidhu as the Chief Minister.
Minutes after handing over his and his Council of Minister’s resignation to the Governor, Amarinder hit out at the party high command for humiliating him time and again.
Amarinder claimed that he had fulfilled his duty given to him, serving Punjab as the Chief Minister for nine and half years, including five years of his previous term (2002-2007). “I worked as strongly as I can for my Punjab and the people and would continue to do so. I am not going to bog down. I have completed my this task. Now I will take over the next,” he added.
Keeping the cards close to his chest, Amarinder refused to disclose what he had planned for his future.
Earlier in the day, Amarinder had convened a meeting of Ministers and MLAs supporting him at his official residence here at 2 pm. However, apart from a handful of his close allies in the Cabinet and among MLAs, not many attended the meeting.
Amarinder had led the Congress to a stunning victory in the 2017 Assembly polls, following 10 years of Akali rule in the State. The Congress had mustered a brute majority of 80 in the 117-member Assembly.
Capt Amarinder claimed that he was well aware of all the games his political rivals were playing with him all this time. “They have been doing all this as they want to be the Chief Minister…I am aware of their game…this game has been going on since long,” he said.
Expressing displeasure with the party high command over the turn of events that forced him to tender his resignation, Capt Amarinder said that he had already asked the party chief Sonia Gandhi to “relieve” him but the high command asked him to continue.
“I had told the party president Sonia Gandhi…not today…but three-four weeks back when I met her…seeking to relieve me from this charge telling her that this won’t be possible with Sidhu pulling right and me pulling left…I told them that in this way the party would split…Rawat ji was also there…But she asked me to carry on…Why they took this decision now, I don’t know,” he said.
WON’T ACCEPT SIDHU AS PUNJAB CM EVER
In a bitter fight with the Punjab Congress chief for over a year now, Capt Amarinder declared that he would “not agree with Navjot Sidhu as mukhyamantri”. Slamming Punjab Congress president, who had led a fight to dethrone him, Capt Amarinder said that Sidhu is a complete disaster as chief minister frontrunner for the state. “He is a total disaster. He wasn’t able to run one Ministry, will he be able to run the Government? How can he handle whole of Punjab?” said Capt Amarinder, adding that he would ruin Punjab if he becomes the chief minister of the state. Capt Amarinder said that he “knows his (Sidhu’s) capability….He has no capability”.
