- Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
FORMER Indian central minister Ambika Soni on Sunday (19) refused to don the mantle of the chief minister of the northern state of Punjab a day after the incumbent chief minister, Captain Amarinder Singh quit, over internal trouble. She said a Sikh should handle the top job.
Speaking to reporters in national capital New Delhi, Soni, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, said, “I have declined the offer to be the next Punjab CM. I believe Punjab CM face should be a Sikh. Party’s exercise is going on in Chandigarh with the general secretary and observers are taking views of all MLAs. The announcement will be made today.”
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The name of the 78-year-old leader cropped up as a possible successor to Singh since she is one of the seniormost leaders of the Indian National Congress and is respected by both Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former chief minister’s bete noire.
Soni, who is a pick of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and has served as a minister under the former Manmohan Singh government (2004-14), has been a member from Punjab to the Rajya Sabha several times. Born in Lahore in undivided Punjab, she met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi late on Saturday and again on Sunday afternoon.
Sources said the final call over the chief minister will be taken by the Congress’s high command.
Party observers like Ajay Maken, Harish Rawat, Harish Chaudhary and Sindhu were holding meetings in a hotel in state capital Chandigarh.
Singh’s resignation came ahead of a meeting of the party legislators in the state unit which has been hit by serious factionalism ahead of the 2022 assembly elections. The decision to make Sidhu as the state party chief in July added to Singh’s discomfort and eventually, he stepped down saying he felt “humiliated”.
Meanwhile, Ashok Gehlot, chief minister of another Congress-ruled state, said on Sunday that he hoped Singh would not take any step that would hurt the party’s interests.
In a tweet, the veteran leader said, “I hope that Captain Amarinder Singh Ji will not take any such step which will harm the Congress party. Captain Sahib himself said that the party had kept him as Chief Minister for nine and a half years. He has served the people of Punjab by working to the best of his ability.
“The direction in which our country is going due to fascist forces, is a matter of grave concern. Therefore, at such a time, the responsibility of all Congressmen is to rise above ourselves and think in the interest of the party and the country,” the Congress leader added.
“I also personally believe that the High Command chooses the chief minister after facing the displeasure of many leaders who are in the race to become the CM. But while changing the same chief minister, they get upset with the decision of the high command. During such times, one has to listen to their conscience,” he said.
Gehlot said Singh is a respected figure in the Congress and hoped that he would keep the interests of the party before everything else.
