‘Deeply Hurt’ Amarinder to Sonia: Rahul, Priyanka ‘Patronised’ ‘Pak Acolyte’ Sidhu, Harish Rawat ‘Most Dubious’

Former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh resigned from the Congress on Tuesday, and in a seven-page scathing letter to party president Sonia Gandhi, he mentioned how he felt “deeply hurt” with the way he was treated by the party.

He also mentioned his years-long association and contributions to the Congress, his agony towards Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for patronising Punjab MLA and bete noire Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was appointed Punjab Congress president. He also called Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat the “most dubious individual” he ever met.

The Captain, along with his resignation, has announced the name of his new party in the state ‘Punjab Lok Congress’. Singh had stepped down as Punjab CM last month citing “humiliation” following an acrimonious power struggle with Sidhu, who was appointed as the state Congress president. Singh, who was one of the Congress’ powerful regional satraps, also said he had never experienced “this sort of interference ever as a chief minister.” Charanjit Singh Channi was elected as his replacement.

The Captain in his letter talked about running a “good, clean and transparent” administration for four years and six months since he was elected in 2017. “The achievements are far numerous to even enumerate. Punjab’s handling of the COVID -19 Pandemic was among the best in the country. All this was achieved despite a severe resource crunch and continuous cross border ingress of weapons and narcotics from Pakistan,” Amarinder said.

He attacked the party for appointing Navjot Singh Sidhu as Punjab party chief, calling attention to the fact that the MLA had publicly hugged Pakistan Army Chief General and PM Imran Khan. “Despite my profound reservations and over the unanimous advice of almost all the MPs from Punjab, you chose to appoint an acolyte of the Pakistani deep state Navjot Sidhu who had publicly hugged the Pakistan Army Chief Gen Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan, as the president of the Punjab Congress Committee. It may be noted that 82 of Punjabi soldiers have been martyred in Jammu and Kashmir since my government took over in 2017,” he said.

The Captain said Sidhu’s only claim to fame was that he would abuse him and his government on a regular basis, adding that “I am old enough to be his father but that did not stop him from using the filthiest and most vile language against me both publicly and privately.”

However, instead of being “reined in”, he was patronised by Rahul and Priyanka, the Captain said, adding that a blind eye was turned to “the shenanigans of this gentleman who was aided and abetted by the General Secretary In charge Harish Rawat, perhaps the most dubious individual I had the occasion to make acquaintance off.”

The Captain said he had already told Sonia that that Sidhu was a person of an unstable mind, and that she would regret this decision and it would be too late by then. “I am sure you must be regretting it now,” he said.

“You thought I was getting on in years and should be put to pasture. I am neither tired nor retired. I feel I have a lot to give and contribute to my beloved Punjab. I intend to soldier on and not fade away,” wrote Singh.

He said when the Congress appointed Sidhu, a person who who had been with the BJP for 14 years as PPCC President, he wondered what the party had come to. “However his appointment was only a continuum given that Nana Patole from the BJP and Revnath Reddy from the RSS had earlier been appointed as Presidents of Maharashtra and Telangana respectively,” he said.

He said a party that had hurled accusations at him for taking up the farmers cause with the NDA/BJP Government “did not think twice before getting into bed with the Shiv Sena when it suited it.” He said it was for the people to decide who was communal, and who was secular.” “They are no fools,” he said.

The Captain also out the “midnight conspiracy” carried out against him at the behest of her children by calling a CLP meeting over his head in the dead of the night, and that too through Twitter. “It was my prerogative as the CLP leader to have called the meeting if the AICC desired it. It was only early next morning that a colleague informed me that such an outrageous act has been committed,” he said.

Amarinder said he immediately realised that the intention was to belittle and humiliate “this self-respecting old soldier.” He said he was called at 10.15 AM the next morning and asked me to resign which he “did so without batting even an eyelid. “However the crude manner in which the whole operation was executed by the undertakers of the AICC left a very foul taste in the mouth,” he said.

He said he actually “felt deeply hurt by your conduct and that of your children who I still deeply love as much as my own children”, having known their father since they were in school together since 1954.

The Captain signed off saying the peace and security of his state and country was always paramount in the priority of his things, calling concern to “the inexperienced hands” the party leadership had handed over his state to.

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