Days after stepping down as the chief minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday declared that he would fight Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu’s elevation to chief ministership “tooth and nail”, and was ready make nay sacrifice to save the country from such a “dangerous man”.
In a series of media interviews, Singh said that he would pit a strong candidate against Sidhu in the 2022 assembly elections of Punjab to thwart the latter’s bid to become the CM face of the state.
He called Sidhu a “drama master”, accusing him of behaving like a “Super CM” with the new chief minister, Charanjit Singh Channi, “simply nodding along”. He also claimed that Punjab is now being run by the party from Delhi, according to a press statement issued by an aide who summed up his interactions with the media.
“I was ready to leave after victory but never after a loss,” Singh said. He disclosed that he had offered his resignation to Sonia Gandhi three weeks earlier but she had asked him to continue. “If she had just called me and asked me to step down, I would have,” he said, adding that “as a soldier, I know how to do my task and leave once I am called back.”
He also took strong exception to being subjected to humiliation by calling a Congress Legislative Party meeting in a secretive manner, without taking him into confidence. He said he had even told Sonia that he was ready to step down and allow someone else to take over as CM after leading the Congress to another sweeping win in Punjab. “But that did not happen, so I will fight.”
“Priyanka and Rahul are like my children. This should not have ended like this. I am hurt,” the Congress veteran said.
“I would not have taken MLAs on a flight to Goa or some place. That is not how I operate. I don’t do gimmicks and the Gandhi siblings know that is not my way,” he said, in a possible reference to other states where the CMs have resorted to shows of strength. The “Gandhi children” are quite “inexperienced” and their advisers are clearly “misguiding” them, he said.
Indicating that he was still keeping his political options open, the former chief minister said he was talking to his friends before deciding on his future course of action. “You can be old at 40 and young at 80,” he quipped, making it clear that he did not see his age as a hurdle.
On allegations of inaccessibility, Captain Amarinder said he had been elected to the Vidhan Sabha seven times and twice to Parliament. “There must be something right with me,” he remarked, adding the Congress leadership had evidently decided on making the change (in Punjab) and were trying to make up a case.
Taking a jibe against Sidhu & Co. over allegations of not taking action against ministers involved in the mining mafia, he quipped: “Those very ministers are now with these leaders!”
Singh resigned as chief minister on Saturday, after being locked in a bitter leadership fight for months with Sidhu. The next day, Singh was succeeded by Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit Sikh whose selection just ahead of the assembly polls clearly indicates the party’s consideration of caste equations in the state.