Hours before he formally submitted his resignation to the Punjab Governor, Captain Amarinder Singh had on Saturday written to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, apprising her of his decision, while expressing anguish at the political events of the last about five months, which he said were clearly “not based on full understanding of the national imperatives of Punjab and its key concerns.”

In his letter, Amarinder also listed his achievements as the Chief Minister since March 2017 while claiming that 89.2 per cent of the poll promises were fulfilled.

“Notwithstanding my personal anguish, I hope this will not cause any damage to the hard-earned peace and development in the State, and that the efforts I have been focusing during the last few years, would continue unabated, ensuring justice to one and all,” Amarinder wrote, indicating his apprehensions of instability in Punjab as a result of the political developments in the State unit of the Congress.

Amarinder also expressed his personal satisfaction at having done his best for the people as Chief Minister of Punjab, which, as a border State, “has many geopolitical and other internal security concerns, which I tried to handle effectively without any compromise.”

He said that he was happy that the State remained fully peaceful, and there was complete communal harmony with no ill-will towards anyone.

Amarinder said that he had worked wholeheartedly for the welfare of the people of Punjab. He claimed that he established the rule of law, and ensured transparent governance, but maintained ethical conduct even in management of political affairs, “winning eight out of 13 seats in the Parliament Elections in 2019 and the PRI and ULB Elections decisively.”

Referring to the numerous challenges faced by him over the last four-and-half years in fulfilling the promises made by the Punjab Congress in the Punjab Elections 2017, he pointed out that these notwithstanding, of the total promises made, his Government had fulfilled 89.2 per cent, while work was in progress on the remaining commitments.

On the issue of sacrilege cases and subsequent police action of 2015, Amarinder said that despite legal hurdles and the refusal of the CBI to return the cases, which were transferred to them by the SAD-BJP Government, his Government had succeeded in filing 10 challans, while 24 people had been charge-sheeted, 15 police personnel suspended, and ten civilians arrested. “The criminal proceedings in these cases are currently underway and I am sure that in due course justice will be done,” he said.

Regarding controversial Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) that were signed by the previous Government for the purchase of expensive power to ensure affordable supply to the people of the State, Amarinder said that his Government had invested Rs 3,709 crore in electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure from 2017-21 and released about Rs 11,000 crore per annum to the benefit of 22 lakh SC/BC consumers, and 14 lakh farmers.

Talking about the farmers, whom he described as the backbone of Punjab’s economy, he wrote that in line with its commitment to provide debt relief and repeal statutory provisions of attaching their properties, his Government had given debt relief of Rs 4,624 crore to 5.64 lakh farmers and Rs 526 crore to 2.68 lakh farm workers.

“In addition, we have repealed Section 67-A of the Punjab State Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, and also amended the Civil Procedure Code, disallowing attachment of agricultural land up to 2.5 acres,” he added.

Referring to his personal promise to the people of Punjab to break the back of drug peddlers and smugglers in the State, he said that he had done so relentlessly by establishing a Special Task Force (STF) in this regard. Pointing to his Government’s three-pronged strategy titled EDP — Enforcement, De-addiction and Prevention, he said as a result, 62,744 people had been arrested, 202 OOAT clinics established, 6,28,083 Drug Abuse Prevention Officers (DAPOs) registered and 9,51,202 Buddy Groups formed.

Underlining his Government’s commitment to the development and welfare of the poor and those belonging to SC and BC, he pointed out that debt relief of Rs 50,000 each has been given to 10,151 SC beneficiaries and 4,702 BC beneficiaries. “We had also decided to enact a special legislation to earmark dedicated funds for development and welfare of SC population in our State,” he noted, adding that 200 units of electricity were being given free of cost to all families belonging to SCs, BCs and BPL with a total coverage of about 22 lakh beneficiaries and an annual subsidy of about Rs 2,000 crore.