Will field a candidate against Sidhu in Assembly polls, warns Amarinder

Captain Amarinder Singh, former chief minister of Punjab, has a message for the Congress high command, which removed him from the top post last week: he will field a candidate against state PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu in next year’s assembly election.

In a series of interviews, Amarinder said that he had been asked to continue by Congress president Sonia Gandhi when he offered to quit three weeks ago, and described Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as “inexperienced and misguided”.

Amarinder resigned on Saturday – just four months before the assembly election – telling Sonia Gandhi that he felt humiliated over the party’s move to call an emergency meeting of Punjab MLAs without informing him.

Two days later, Charanjit Singh Channi, who is close to Amarinder’s bitter rival, Sidhu, took over.

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Amarinder said he would fight Sidhu’s elevation to chief ministership “tooth and nail” and was ready to make any sacrifice to save the country “from such a dangerous man”.

The 79-year-old Congress leader said his political options were open and that he was talking to “friends” before deciding on his future. “You can be old at 40 and young at 80,” he said.

The former CM did not spare the Gandhis. “I was ready to leave after the victory but never after a loss… If she [Sonia Gandhi] had just called me and asked me to step down, I would have. As a soldier, I know how to do my task and leave once I am called back,” he said.

Amarinder said he had told Sonia Gandhi he was ready to quit and allow someone else to take over after leading the Congress in the Punjab polls. “But that did not happen, so I will fight,” he said.