Capt Amarinder Singh: Gandhis solely to blame for fiasco

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 14

Holding the Gandhis solely responsible for the rout of the Congress in the recent Assembly elections, PLC chief Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday hit out at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for trying to put the blame of their party’s dismal defeat on him, “instead of gracefully admitting to their own blunders”.

Ended up discrediting party

In their effort to discredit me, the high command joined hands with Sidhu and others, and in the process ended up discrediting the party completely. — Capt Amarinder Singh, Punjab Lok Congress President

“The Congress has not only lost in Punjab but also in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur and the Gandhis are entirely to blame for the party’s shameful defeat,” he said, adding the fact was people across the country had lost faith in the their leadership.

Pointing out that many senior leaders within the party were openly blaming the infighting in the Punjab Congress and the “anti-party” statements of PCC chief Navjot Sidhu for the abysmal performance, the former Chief Minister said the Congress was comfortably placed in the state 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 an “unstable” and “pompous” person like Sidhu, and naming a “corrupt man” like Charanjit Singh Channi as the CM just months before the polls, he said.

The CWC leaders who were claiming there was a strong “anti-incumbency” against his (Capt Amarinder’s) government had conveniently forgotten 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 pointed out.

“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,” he said, adding the Congress had no future under the present setup.

Capt Amarinder said the real reason for the Congress’ defeat in Punjab was the failure of the high command to rein in people like Sidhu, who indulged in tarnishing the image of the party for their own personal gains. He said: “In their efforts to discredit me, the party high command joined hands with Sidhu and others, and in the process ended up discrediting the party completely.”

Capt Amarinder said though he did not owe an explanation to the CWC or the Congress, he had chosen to react to the comments of these leaders just to clarify his position to the people of Punjab, to whom he still felt accountable.

The former CM said he had been sending fortnightly reports on his government’s achievements to AICC acting president Sonia Gandhi and not once had she complained on them. “Even three weeks before my sacking, I had offered to quit but Sonia had insisted I stay and lead the party in the 2022 elections,” he added. —

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