Amarinder Singh to quit as Punjab CM, to address press today: Report

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has decided to put in his papers ahead of the crucial Congress Legislature Party meeting in Chandigarh on Saturday evening, reports quoting sources close to him said.

The chief minister will meet the Punjab governor around 4.30 pm and resign from the post. Earlier in the day, Amarinder Singh spoke to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and expressed his anguish and displeasure over his repeated “humiliation”, the sources said.

They said the decision was taken at a meeting of legislators close to him at his official residence in Chandigarh a little after 2 pm on Saturday.

The AICC gave its nod to the meeting of the CLP, being held at 5 pm at the Punjab Congress office in Chandigarh, after over 50 MLAs wrote to the party high command that Amarinder Singh be replaced as chief minister.

Elections in the state are due in about four months.

Amarinder Singh’s bete-noire and PCC president Sidhu, who is eyeing the chief minister’s post, however, is unlikely to be a probable choice for the chief minister’s replacement, the sources pointed out. Former Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar may be considered a probable, they said. Jakhar, who is not an MLA, is believed to be close the top leadership and is considered a prominent Hindu face of the party.

Trouble between the two factions has been brewing for long and Amarinder Singh was strongly opposed to Sidhu’s appointment as PCC chief.

Sidhu has been at loggerheads with Amarinder Singh ever since he quit the Punjab cabinet as a minister in 2019. He had become more vocal in his views in the last some months. Last month, four ministers and around two dozen party legislators had raised the banner of revolt against the Punjab CM and said they had no faith in Amarinder Singh’s ability to honour unfulfilled promises.