Congress likely to announce new Punjab chief minister today after Amarinder Singh’s exit

The Congress is likely to announce a new Punjab chief minister on Sunday after a meeting of the party MLAs in the state with the central leadership, NDTV reported.

The Congress Legislature Party meeting, scheduled to take place in Chandigarh, will be the second time the MLAs will hold talks with central leaders since Amarinder Singh resigned from the chief minister’s post on Saturday.

“A meeting of MLAs was held with [Congress’ Punjab in-charge] Harish Rawat ji and [General Secretary] Ajay Maken ji yesterday,” Pawan Goel, working president of the Congress Punjab unit told reporters on Sunday. “A resolution was passed that [party chief] Sonia Gandhi ji’s decision will be final on this matter. Today you will get to know her decision.”

Congress MLAs Pargat Singh and Kuldeep Singh Vaid also said that they were waiting for Gandhi and other leaders to make a decision about Amarinder Singh’s successor, ANI reported.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot urged Singh to not take any step that could “cause damage to the Congress party”. He sought to defend the Congress, saying that at times, the high command “has to take decisions in the interest of the party on the basis of feedback from MLAs and common people”.

“One must rise above oneself and think in the interest of the country and Congress party,” Gehlot said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Meanwhile, former party President Rahul Gandhi held a separate late-night meeting on Saturday with Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and Rajya Sabha MP Ambika Soni, ANI reported. Media reports suggested that Soni, a veteran leader of the party, was among the probable candidates to take over as Punjab chief minister.

But Soni has turned down the offer saying that not having a Sikh as the chief minister of Punjab can have “ramifications”, according to NDTV.

Former chief of Congress Punjab unit Sunil Jakhar, sitting chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and the party’s Lok Sabha MP Ravneet Singh Bittu are also in the fray for the chief minister’s post, according to media reports.

Amarinder Singh’s resignation

Amarinder Singh was sworn in as the Punjab chief minister on March 16, 2017, after the Congress won 77 of the state’s 117 Assembly seats in elections held that year. He had served as the chief minister from 2002 to 2007 as well.

After stepping down from his post, Singh told reporters that he felt “humiliated” and that the party’s top leadership had lost faith in him. He added that on Saturday the Congress MLAs had met for the third time seeking his removal.

On Friday, All India Congress Committee in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat said that he received representations from many MLAs who wanted Singh to resign. He had also called for a Congress Legislative Party meeting on the same day.

Tumult in Punjab Congress

The Punjab unit of the Congress had been thrown into a crisis following a rift between Singh and Sidhu, who had been demanding a more prominent role in the Congress. The two leaders had been publicly criticising each other for months before Sidhu was appointed the Punjab Congress chief along with four working presidents on July 18.

On August 20, the two leaders had formed a group to improve coordination between the party and the state government.

However, confrontations continued between the chief minister and the state Congress president. Last month, Singh strongly criticised statements made by two of Sidhu’s advisors about Kashmir and ties between India and Pakistan.

At the time, Rawat said that he would fire the advisors if Sidhu would not do so. However, on August 27, the Sidhu asserted that the party should allow him to make his own decisions.

The Punjab Assembly elections are expected to be held in February or March 2022. The Congress will seek to retain power and fend off the challenges by the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.