Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday (18 September) resigned as the Chief Minister of Punjab.

Singh reached the Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh at around 4.30 pm and submitted his resignation to Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

Speaking to media persons, Singh said that he spoke to interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the morning and told her that he is being humiliated and he will resign from the post.  He has also commented on his future in politics and whether he believes it lies within the folds of the Congress party.

Speaking to Navika Kumar of Times Now, Amarinder Singh said that there was no chance of him playing second fiddle to Navjot Singh Sidhu in Punjab Congress. He also said that he will not join the Shiromani Akali Dal. He said, ‘I will never join Akali Dal. Other parties, I have not taken any decision on, yet. I will certainly not play a second fiddle to Navjot Singh Sidhu’.

According to some senior party leaders, the high command has categorically asked Amarinder Singh to step down.
The minute-by-minute changing political development began close to midnight on Friday (17 September) when Congress' Punjab in-charge Harish Rawat tweeted about the decision to hold an urgent CLP meeting on Saturday.

About 10 minutes later, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu directed all the MLAs to be present at the CLP meeting.

The announcement by Rawat is being seen as an indication from the high command to appoint a new incumbent under whose helm the party will go to the Assembly polls, slated in March 2022.

Responding to the political developments, former state Congress President Sunil Jakhar tweeted: "Kudos to Sh Rahul Gandhi for adopting Alexandrian solution to this Punjabi version of Gordian knot.

The former Punjab CM told Arnab Goswami on Republic TV, “I feel let down. I feel betrayed, obviously. I feel humiliated. And I am not one of those who can take humiliation. But that doesn’t mean I am out of politics… I will decide what to do in due course.”

He said that he believed something like this wouldn’t happen due to his association with Sonia Gandhi and her children.

About Navjot Singh Sidhu, Amarinder Singh said, “I removed him from my cabinet for incompetence. How can I support an incompetent man for Chief Ministership? He told News18, ‘I will never accept Navjot Singh Sidhu as CM. He is a total disaster. He cannot run one Ministry, how will he run an entire state? I know that he has no capability.’

Singh also bashed Navjot Singh Sidhu for the latter’s apparent love for the Pakistani military and its leaders. He claims to have told Sidhu, “here are my soldiers getting killed and you are going and hugging the Pakistani chief General Bajwa. Then you are going to Imran Khan where policies are made against our nation. Do you know how many drones are coming into Punjab on a daily basis? How much weaponry has come into Punjab? How much RDX explosives, how many grenades, how many pistols, over 50,000 rounds of ammunition, all that is coming in the state, what does it come in for?”

Captain Amarinder Singh also claims to have told Sidhu to not go to attend Imran Khan’s swearing in. He has also said that Sidhu is a threat to national security. He said that the latter is friend with Imran Khan and has relations with Pakistani General Qamar Bajwa.

He has remain tight-lipped about the possibility of joining another party and said that he will take a decision after discussing the matter with his supporters. The significant development is that while he has rejected the possibility of joining the Akalis, he has not said the same for the BJP. He only said that he will take a decision after discussing the matter with his aides.

References:

OpIndia