Reacting to the crisis faced by the Congress in Punjab following the resignation of Captain Amarinder Singh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday said he hoped that the former will not take any step that harms the Congress party.

“I hope that Captain Amarinder Singh ji will not take any step that will harm the Congress party…He is a respected leader of the party and I hope that he will continue to work keeping the interests of the party ahead,” read a tweet by Gehlot in Hindi.

He also said that the party often has to take decisions based on the feedbacks received from the MLAs and public.

The remarks from Gehlot come after Amarinder Singh, while stepping down as the chief minister of Punjab, saying he had been “humiliated thrice” and that the Congress is free to “appoint whoever they trust”. “There is always an option, and I will use that option when the time comes… at the moment I am still in Congress,” Singh said.

Singh also launched a no-holds-barred attack against state party president Navjot Singh Sidhu, describing his bete noire, a cricketer-turned-politician, as a “total disaster”.

Singh also said that he will not accept Sidhu as the chief minister, if the party decided on his name as the successor with the state just four months away from assembly polls.

Meanwhile, the party leadership, unable to zero in on the new chief minister, called off the scheduled CLP meeting on Sunday. It is now expected to announce the new chief minister without holding a meeting.

Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, current state unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa are frontrunners for the post of the CLP leader. Names of senior party leaders Ambika Soni, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Brahm Mohindra, Vijay Inder Singla, Punjab Congress working president Kuljit Singh Nagra and MP Partap Singh Bajwa are also doing the rounds.

However, Soni is believed to have turned the offer in a late-night meeting with Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, saying that the chief minister should be from the Sikh community.