Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh was removed from his post after he had refused to waive electricity bills of the poor, The Indian Express reported.
Gandhi made the remarks while addressing an election rally in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib town.
In September, Singh had stepped down as Punjab chief minister amid a tussle with state party president Navjot Singh Sidhu. He was replaced by Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi.
In October, Singh quit the Congress and floated his own party, the Punjab Lok Congress. He later announced an alliance with the Bhartiya Janata Party for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.
During Thursday’s rally, Gandhi claimed that Singh had rejected his request to provide free electricity to the poor, saying that he had a contract with the power supplying companies, ANI reported.
“I asked him [Singh] whether he has a contract with the power companies or he has a contract with the people of Punjab,” Gandhi said, according to The Indian Express.
He added that after Channi was appointed as the chief minister, electricity bills of the poor worth Rs 1500 crore were waived.
“Not only this, but he [Channi] also told me that he was also reducing the petrol and diesel prices and even water bills,” the Congress MP said. “I thought that he is the right man who can transform Punjab.”
Voting in Punjab will take place in a single phase on February 20. The results will be announced on March 10.
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