A bitter feud for power, resignation of an old warhorse, public bickering and blame-game, new allies and a comeback — Punjab’s political potboiler has all the makings of a gripping plot for a flick. And now, to add a dash of spice to the mix, Captain Amarinder Singh’s press conference on Wednesday seemed like the perfect rebuttal.
The former chief minister, whose exit stunned the Congress top brass, is holding a press conference in Chandigarh, close on the heels of Captain’s announcement last week of floating a new party a month after stepping down from the CM’s post following a power tussle with bête noire Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Punjab Congress chief.
The former CM had on October 20 announced his decision to float a new political party, adding that he is open to ally with the BJP, provided they resolve the farmers’ protest. He also said he would not just be looking at an alliance with “like-minded parties such as breakaway Akali groups” for the 2022 Punjab polls, but also those within the Congress, who have been treated unfairly by the top brass.
Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18’s Managing Editor Zakka Jacob a day after he announced he would soon launch his political party, Singh said, “The Congress decided that I must go, so I have left the party…but I don’t think I will sit at home…I can do a lot for Punjab.” The former senior Congress leader said, “Morarji Desai was prime minister at 92, Parkash Badal is 15 years older than me…so why can’t I stay on?”
Talking about the Congress, Singh said the party lost ground very fast in Punjab after Sidhu was made the state president. “About six months ago, they were doing well. One main reason for the decline was (when) Sidhu was made the state party president,” he said, adding that Sidhu’s elevation “created some bad blood”.
Recently, Amarinder faced heat over his long association with Pakistani scribe Aroosa Alam. Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had last week said that a probe would be conducted on Alam’s alleged ISI links. Captain Amarinder had hit back and in tweets posted on his behalf by his media adviser Thukral, had said Alam had been “coming for 16 years with due GoI clearances”.
As the slugfest turned personal, Capt Amarinder on Monday released Alam’s photographs with former Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Yashwant Sinha, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav, among others, and asked if these leaders are “ISI contacts too”.
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