Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday made it clear that he would be leaving the Congress party as he felt ‘humiliated’ by the leadership that had replaced him with Charanjeet Singh Channi. He more or less ruled out joining the BJP as well, despite his much-talked about meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday evening.
“I will resign…will not stay in the party,” he said in a statement released by his team, and that he was still thinking through his options in the interest of Punjab and its security. “I will not be treated in this humiliating manner…I will not take such insults,” his statement quoted him as saying adding that his “principles and beliefs do not allow him to stay in the Congress”.
Meets Ajit Doval
Mr. Singh met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday morning, where he said he talked about the security situation in the sensitive border State.
“My experience showed that the people of Punjab tend to vote for a single party/fora, irrespective of the number of parties in the fray. Misgovernance in Punjab would give Pakistan the opportunity to create trouble in the State and in the country,” he said, adding that his meeting with Mr. Doval was centred on this theme.
The long-running farmers’ protest against the three contentious farm laws were issues that he discussed with Mr. Shah and tangentially with Mr. Doval, as the agitation with no end to the confrontation was inimical to the security of the State.
Mr. Singh said those undermining the growing Pakistani threat in Punjab were playing into the hands of anti-India forces by being in denial mode, a direct hit at Congress leader Navjyot Singh Sidhu. “They [Pak-backed elements] are killing our soldiers every day. They are pushing weapons into the State through drones. How can we overlook such dangers?”
In his visit to Delhi, which he had said was to just collect his things from Kapurthala House (the official home for the Punjab Chief Minister in Delhi) and hand it over to his successor, Mr. Singh managed to delineate his political plans quite clearly.
The prospects of Mr. Singh floating his own party and even walking away with some Congress MLAs who owe him loyalty seem open. His rhetoric and campaign will rest on not just a narrative of being humiliated by the Congress, but also high nationalism and concern for issues regarding farmers and most of all the need to have a stable government that can guarantee security at the borders.
A good fit in BJP’s ideological calculus
The BJP on its part, keen to end its confrontation with farmers’ groups especially in Haryana and Punjab where its party workers are facing hostility, is eager to press Mr. Singh into finding a solution out of the maze of this issue. Mr. Singh’s anti-Pakistan, nationalistic credentials also make him a good fit in the BJP’s ideological calculus.
For his own party, the Congress, which he is set to exit, Mr. Singh had some home truths. “Senior Congressmen are the thinkers but they are being sidelined.” He condemned the attack on former Union Minister Kapil Sibal’s residence by Youth Congress workers for what he termed “choosing to express views that were not palatable to the party leadership”.
"Singh’s assertion is not correct"
AICC Treasurer Pawan Bansal said, "Capt. Amarinder Singh’s assertion that he had been humiliated is not correct. The fact is that most of the 74 Congress MLAs did not want him as CM, yet the party continued with him and only repeatedly requested that he should respect party MLAs’ sentiments regarding Bargari sacrilege, electricity costs, and sand mafia. He failed to act. It was only then that he was asked to resign".
