It is now Harish Rawat vs Amarinder in Congress’ never-ending Punjab saga
Responding to Rawat’s claims, Singh said, 'The world saw the humiliation and the insult heaped on me, and yet Rawat is making claims to the contrary'
It’s another day for yet another avoidable heated exchange in the Congress party’s Punjab saga. After clapping an unsteady lid on the simmering cauldron of strife between Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Thursday, the Congress, on Friday, fanned a new fire with the party’s in-charge for the state, Harish Rawat, sniping at former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the latter responding with unabashed fury.
In a statement, Rawat accused Singh of “helping” the party’s arch-rivals in Punjab – the Badal family that leads the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – through a “secret understanding” during his stint as CM and of refusing to fulfil the party’s poll promises despite repeatedly being informed about growing public anger against the state government.
Also read: How Amarinder Singh went from Punjab’s Captain to Captain Cooked
Rawat also dismissed Singh’s allegations that he had resigned as CM because he felt “humiliated”. He said the former CM is circulating the “theory of humiliation to gain sympathy of the people” after meeting “BJP’s contact man” Amit Shah. Singh had met the Union home minister earlier this week while on a two-day visit to Delhi amid speculation that he was preparing to join the saffron party. However, Singh has said that though he plans to quit the Congress, he will “not join the BJP”.
Responding to Rawat’s claims, Singh said, “The world saw the humiliation and the insult heaped on me, and yet Rawat is making claims to the contrary.” The former CM, who is all set to float his own regional party ahead of the assembly polls due in Punjab in February-March 2022, argued that Rawat had told the media on September 1 that the Congress would fight the 2022 election under his (Singh’s) leadership but was now claiming that the party leadership was unhappy with the state government’s performance.
Also read: Sidhu’s mutiny & Captain’s rendezvous with Shah: Congress woes in full spate
Singh also trained his guns once again on Sidhu, the man who had emerged as the face of the rebellion within the Congress against the former CM. “If the party did not intend to humiliate me then why was Navjot Singh Sidhu allowed to openly criticise and attack me on social media and other public platforms for months? Why did the party allow the rebels, led by Sidhu, undermine my authority,” Singh said.
In a reference to the fresh turmoil that the Congress has plunged into over the past few days since Sidhu suddenly announced his resignation as PCC chief in protest against ministerial and administrative appointments made by Channi, the Patiala Royal also claimed that the Congress was “allowing Sidhu even now to hold the party to ransom and dictate terms”. The former CM said: “What is the pressure he [Sidhu] exerts on the party leadership that they are so defenceless against him and are allowing him to have his way even at the cost of the Congress’s future in Punjab?”
Singh had, on Thursday, declared that he will ensure Sidhu’s defeat from any assembly seat that the PCC chief contests in the upcoming polls. Former IPS officer and Sidhu’s principal strategic advisor, Mohammad Mustafa, has dared Singh, the titular Maharaja of Patiala, to contest the polls against Sidhu and requested the Congress leadership to field the PCC chief from a constituency that falls in the former CM’s home turf of Patiala. “If the result is any different from forfeiture of your [Singh’s] deposit, we will quit political space for good,” Mustafa has said. Singh is presently the MLA from Patiala (Urban).
With a solution to the recent spat between Channi and Sidhu still in its drafting stage, Singh threatening to quit the Congress yet again – he has done so twice in the past – and the party high command being challenged by a host of other senior leaders for their inept leadership, the Grand Old Party is moving towards snatching defeat from the jaws of certain victory in Punjab, a state where most political observers believed till a few months ago that the Congress was headed for a rare poll victory.
