‘Gandhis’ resposible for Congress’s rout in Punjab: Amarinder

Party comfortably placed till I was sacked to favour certain sycophants, says ex-Chief Minister

Former Chief Minister and Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Monday blamed “the Gandhis” for the complete rout of the Congress.

Hitting out at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for trying to put the blame on him instead of gracefully admitting to their own blunders, Capt. Amarinder said: “The Congress has not only lost in Punjab but also in Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Goa and Manipur and the Gandhis are entirely to blame for the shameful defeat. The fact was that the people across the country had lost faith in the leadership of the Gandhis.”

Pointing out that many senior leaders within the party were outright blaming the infighting in the State unit and the “anti-party” statements of State party president Navjot Singh Sidhu for the abysmal performance, the former Chief Minister said the Congress was comfortably placed till he was sacked to favour certain sycophants.

“The party had dug its own grave in the border State the day they decided to back a ‘pompous’ person like Navjot Sidhu, and naming Charanjit Singh Channi as Chief Minister just months before the polls, he said.

“The CWC leaders who were claiming that there was a strong “anti-incumbency” against his [Captain Amarinder’s] government had conveniently forgotten that he had won every election for the party since 2017, the last being the civic bodies election in February 2021, just seven months before his unceremonious removal,” he said. “These leaders are just sycophants who are trying to shield the family by shifting blame and closing their eyes to the writing on the wall. The Congress has no future under the present setup.”

Capt. Amarinder said the real reason for the defeat was the failure of the high command to first favour and then reign in people like Mr. Sidhu, who indulged in tarnishing the image of the party for personal gains. “In their efforts to discredit me, the party high command joined hands with Navjot and others, and in the process ended up discrediting the party totally”.

Former Punjab president Sunil Jakhar took a dig at Mr. Channi terming him as a liability. Mr. Jakhar said it’s not the top brass but Mr. Channi’s own greed that pulled him and the party down in the Assembly elections.