The 'Chai Pe Charcha' to Sidhu's Repeated Burns: Capt Amarinder's Fall from CM Seat in 10 Points

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posted on 3 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Capt Amarinder Singh's resignation comes after months of infighting in the Punjab Congress.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh resigned after months of infighting in the Punjab Congress, and with Navjot Singh Sidhu’s repeated attacks on the leader. Singh in a press conference said he felt “humiliated” by the fact that a CLP meeting had been called for the third time, and that the leadership did not trust him.

How did the turmoil in Congress’ Punjab chapter, begin, however? All developments summed up, in 10 points:

The ‘Tea’ in May: Sidhu and Amarinder have been at loggerheads with each other for a while. Both Singh and Sidhu met on March 18 over a tea for nearly 50 minutes in Mohali after which speculations were rife that the latter will be reinducted into the state cabinet. However, later in May, Sidhu once again attacked Singh over the 2015 Kotkapura firing, saying the Punjab and Haryana High court’s order to form a new SIT to probe the incident was accepted by the state government to “deflect” people’s attention. Sidhu has been targeting the Chief Minister over the alleged delay in delivering justice in the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and post sacrilege police firing incident.
‘Cozying Up to AAP’: In July, Sidhu’s made a series of tweets that left many in the party baffled with some them interpreting it as ‘cozying up’ to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Sparring Camps, Sidhu’s Elevation: Sidhu and Amarinder camps sparred for a while, followed by the elevation of Sidhu as Punjab Congress’ chief.
Sidhu’s Attacks Did Not Stop, Rawat’s Meeting: Late August, the party in charge Hairsh Rawat landed in Chandigarh and began confabulations with the state leaders including PCC Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu who continued to target the Capt Amarinder Singh government over various issues. Apart from Sidhu, his close confidant and MLA Pargat Singh, a known CM baiter, also met Rawat at the Congress Bhavan to discuss the latest developments in the party. Significantly, Pargat had just few days back hit out at Punjab government claiming it had still to fulfill a lot of the promises made to the people of the state during the assembly elections.
Harish Rawat’s Late Friday Tweet: Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat late Friday night announced that a Congress legislative party meeting will be held on Saturday at the PPCC headquarters in Chandigarh. Interestingly, Rawat took to microblogging site Twitter to make the announcement. “The AICC has received a representation from a large number of MLAs from the Congress party, requesting to immediately convene a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party of Punjab. Accordingly, a meeting of the CLP has been convened at 5:00 PM on 18th September at Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee office,’’ he tweeted.
CLP Meet Came Day After MLAs Letters to Sonia Gandhi: Though the agenda of the CLP was not known, it came just a day after at least 40 legislators wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking a CLP meeting to chalk out a strategy for the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections, scheduled to be held in early 2022. Sources said that the legislators, through the letter, also informed the president that they would discuss the party high command’s 18-point agenda given to the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
Amarinder Singh Told Friends He Would Resign: Ahead of the late-night-conceived meeting of MLAs on Saturday, Singh, according to sources, has conveyed to his close ‘friends’ Kamal Nath and Manish Tewari that he will prefer walking out of the grand old party if asked to resign as CM — a claim dismissed by the chief minister’s office.
Capt Amarinder Singh Resigns: Capt Amarinder Singh met the Punjab Governor and submitted his and his council of ministers’ resignation.
‘I Feel Humiliated’: Amarinder Singh: Singh, after months of infighting in the Punjab Congress resigned from his post and said he felt “humiliated” which is why he made the decision. “I conveyed my message to Sonia Gandhi that I am going to resign. This is happening (CLP meeting) for the third time. I feel humiliated.”
Next CM? Sidhu may have had the last laugh as political experts bestow him with engineering Capt Amarinder’s fall as CM. The Captain in his press conference said the party may choose a CM they trust. Sunil Jakhar’s name has been coming up for the post, according to experts and sources.