Punjab crisis: CM Amarinder Singh quits ahead of polls

THE ruling Indian National Congress in the northern Indian state of Punjab received a serious jolt just months before the 2022 assembly elections on Saturday (18) when its chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh resigned from the top post.

The 79-year-old leader, who had been serving his second stint as the chief minister, said he felt humiliated and stepped down after speaking to party president Sonia Gandhi and shortly before a crucial meeting of the Congress Legislature Party.

“The thing is that this is the third time the party called the MLAs. You have an element of doubt on me... I feel humiliated,” he told reporters outside the Punjab Raj Bhavan after submitting his resignation to Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

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Over 50 members of the legislative assembly in the party had written to Gandhi seeking that Amarinder Singh be replaced as chief minister, a move that capped months of a fractious feud between him and Navjot Singh Sidhu who was recently picked as the party’s state president, much against wishes of Singh.

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The Congress has 80 MLAs in the 117-member state assembly.

Singh, credited with putting the party back in the saddle in Punjab after an intensely fought poll battle that decimated the Shiromani Akali Dal and stymied the Aam Aadmi Party’s hopes in 2017, submitted his resignation along with that of his council of ministers a little after 4.35 pm local time.

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Indicating that the dissension-riven party could see more tension, he said when asked about his future course of action. “As far as my future politics is concerned, there is always an option and I will use that option when time comes,” he said, adding, “I am in the Congress party. I will talk to my supporters and decide future course of politics.”

“I have been in politics for the last 52 years and I have been chief minister for nine-and-a-half years…,” he said.

Singh was accompanied by his wife and member of parliament Preneet Kaur and son Raninder Singh when he submitted his resignation.

“I am proud to accompany my father to Raj Bhawan when he submits his resignation as CM of Punjab and leads us as head of our family into a new beginning,” Raninder said in a tweet earlier in the afternoon.

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu (Photo by NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images)

Sidhu unlikely to become next Punjab CM

However, Sidhu, who has been eyeing the chief minister's post, is unlikely to be a probable choice as Singh’s replacement, sources pointed out. They said the Congress -- also battling intra-party crises in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where its governments are in power -- is trying to balance equations in the state and is likely to appoint a Hindu face to the top post. The name of former state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar is doing the rounds.

Jakhar, who is not an MLA, is believed to be close to the top leadership.

In a cryptic tweet, Jakhar, son of late leader Balram Jakhar, lauded former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the “bold” solution taken in Punjab to resolve the leadership crisis.

“Kudos to Sh Rahul Gandhi for adopting Alexandrian solution to this punjabi version of Gordian knot. Surprisingly, this bold leadership decision to resolve Punjab Congress imbroglio has not only enthralled congress workers but has sent shudders down the spines of Akalis,” he said.