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Amarinder Singh to NDTV: “I’m not joining BJP but am leaving Congress, can’t handle insult”
New Delhi:
Amarinder Singh said today that he is not joining the BJP but definitely quitting the Congress, confirming speculation that had been swirling since he was forced to quit as Punjab Chief Minister, just four months before polls.
“So far I am in the Congress but I will not remain in the Congress. I will not be treated in this manner,” the Captain told NDTV in an exclusive interview a day after meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
In a no-holds-barred interview, the Captain also said the Congress is going down in Punjab and called Navjot Singh Sidhu a “childish man” given a serious job by the party.
“I have been in politics for 52 years. The way I have been treated. At 10.30 am the Congress President says you resign. I didn’t ask any questions. At 4 pm I went to the Governor and resigned. If you doubt me after 50 years and my credibility is at stakeif there is no trust, what is the point of me staying in the party?”
Amarinder Singh had told Sonia Gandhi that he had been humiliated thrice by the party.
“I have made my stand very clear to the Congress that I will not be treated in this manner. I will not stand for it. I have not resigned from the Congress yet, but how can one continue in a place where there is a trust deficit. I have made my stand clear. When there is no trust, one cannot continue,” he said.
On the question that everyone, including the Congress, has for him, Mr Singh asserted: “I am not joining the BJP”.
His rival Navjot Singh Sidhu, who played a big role in the two-time Chief Minister’s abrupt exit, also stunned the party by resigning as Punjab Congress chief on Tuesday.
“Sidhu is an immature person. I have said this repeatedly that he is not a stable man. He is not a team player. He is a loner. How will he handle the Punjab Congress as its chief? For that you need to be a team player, which Sidhu is not,” Mr Singh said.
Describing Mr Sidhu as “childish”, he said: “Sidhu is good at creating a scene. He can do what he did in Kapil Sharma’s show and get a crowd, but he is not a serious guy. How can a non-serious person be taking serious, major decisions in the running of a party and the state government. He can only do theatrics.”
The Captain predicted doom for the Congress in the Punjab election due early next year.
“The Congress is going downhill. In the current scenario, we see in a recent survey done by the Congress between July and September that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is on the rise and the Congress is on a decline. Congress has seen a 20% decline according to that survey. This election will be very different with Congress, AAP, Akali Dal, factions of the Akali Dal, and there may be another front emerging too… so, it will be a very different election,” he said.
The Congress had reached out to Amarinder Singh amid signs of another big exit from the crisis-hit party.
Sources said senior Congress leaders Ambika Soni and Kamal Nath tried to placate Mr Singh. But the Captain, who has been in Delhi since Tuesday, has tellingly not sought any meeting with his party president Sonia Gandhi as he continues his meetings with the “other side”.
The former Chief Minister met with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval this morning. Sources say he may have discussed Punjab border security amid political turmoil in the state.
The 79-year-old stalwart had so far kept the Congress on the edge, neither confirming nor denying that he is exploring his options after being forced to quit as Punjab Chief Minister on September 18, just four months before state polls.
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