Punjab Congress crisis: talk more in private, less in public, party to its leaders

Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate hoped Captain Amarinder Singh would reconsider his decision of quitting the party

Amid the ongoing crisis within the Congress in Punjab, its national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate on Friday expressed the hope that its leaders "talk more in private and less in public." With veteran leader and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh deciding to quit the party, she hoped that he would reconsider his decision, calling him a "soldier" of the Congress.

"Amarinder Singh is an extremely respected Congressman. He has been a Congress soldier for long, he has been the Chief Minister for about nine years and nine months. He is respected. To change is the very symptom of life. Our elected MLAs felt there was a leadership change required in Punjab, which is what we did," Ms. Shrinate said. The Punjab unit of the Congress is in turmoil after Amarinder Singh was removed as Chief Minister and its chief Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from his post ahead of the assembly elections next year. Singh had on Thursday made it clear that he was not joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but said he had no intention of continuing in the Congress, which, he said, was going downhill, with senior party leaders being completely ignored. Speaking to reporters here, Ms. Shrinate claimed that Congress created "history" by making Charanjit Singh Channi the first Dalit CM of Punjab with the support of MLAs, and challenged the BJP, which has governments in 17 states, to "show one Dalit CM".

"There will always be rumblings within the party, there will always be people who will disagree with the decisions. I hope Captain Saab (Mr. Singh) will come around and understand that he is a very valued senior soldier of the Congress and will continue to fight for the justice and rights of the people," she added.