Veteran leader Captain Amarinder Singh, on Tuesday, severed his ties with the Congress over a month after he was forced by the party to step down as chief minister of Punjab.
He announced his exit in a seven-page explosive letter to party president Sonia Gandhi, in which he hit out at the Gandhis, accusing them of carrying out a “midnight conspiracy” against him and patronising his detractor Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Ending his decades-long association with the Congress on a bitter note, Amarinder also declared the name of his new party—Punjab Lok Congress.
In his letter to Sonia Gandhi, he expressed his feelings of hurt and betrayal at the manner in which the Gandhis, who he was extremely close to, had orchestrated his removal as chief minister. He said the “most egregious” act was the “midnight conspiracy” carried out against him at the behest of the Gandhis by calling a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in the dead of the night through Twitter, without his knowledge. “It was my prerogative as the CLP leader to have called the meeting if the AICC desired it. It was only early next morning that a colleague informed me that such an outrageous act has been committed,” he wrote.
“I immediately realised that the intention was to belittle and humiliate this self-respecting old soldier. You called me at 10:15am next morning and asked me to resign. I did so without batting even an eyelid. However, the crude manner in which the whole operation was executed by the undertakers of the AICC left a very foul taste in the mouth.”
In the no-holds barred attack on the Gandhis, he described the events leading up to his removal as chief minister as a “third world emergency imposition kind of circus that happened in June 1975”, and added that the central leadership perhaps felt that he could have whisked the MLAs to some resort.
Singh, who has been critical of the AICC functionaries known to be close to the Gandhi family, said, “Randeep Surjewala said that 76 out of 77 MLAs had opposed me and you believed 43 MLAs were against me. I don't blame you as these were concocted numbers presented to you by the people who were part of the conspiracy.”
The former Punjab CM, who is known to have had a great personal relationship with the Gandhis, especially Sonia Gandhi, wrote: “Despite knowing me for the better part of my 52 years in public life and that too at a deeply personal level, you never understood me or my character.” He said Sonia Gandhi thought he was getting on in years and should be put to pasture.
“I am neither tired nor retired. I feel I have a lot to give and contribute to my beloved Punjab. I intend to soldier on and not fade away.”
He said he felt deeply hurt by the conduct of the Gandhis, and added that he deeply loved Rahul and Priyanka like his own, having known Rajiv Gandhi since they were together in school.
“Having been put through this exercise, during past few months, I do hope that no other senior Congressperson is subjected to the ignominy that I was put through.”
He reiterated his reservations regarding the appointment of Sidhu as Punjab Congress president, stating that he was sure that Sonia was regretting the decision now. “Despite my profound reservations and over the unanimous advice of almost all the MPs from Punjab, you chose to appoint an acolyte of the Pakistani deep state Navjot Sidhu who had publicly hugged the Pakistan Army Chief Gen Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan, as the president of the Punjab Congress Committee.”
He said Sidhu's only claim to fame was that the cricketer-turned-politician would abuse him (Singh) and his government on a regular basis, but instead of controlling him, Rahul and Priyanka patronised him while Sonia Gandhi chose to turn a blind eye to his shenanigans.
Singh also hit out at Harish Rawat, who was the former in-charge of Punjab Congress, saying he aided and abetted Sidhu. He said Rawat was “perhaps the most dubious individual I had the occasion to make acquaintance of.”
“I had told you at that time also that Sidhu is a person of unstable mind and you will one day regret this decision and it would be too late by then. I am sure you must be regretting it now.”
He pointed out that the party had chosen to appoint Sidhu as PCC chief despite the fact that he had spent 14 years in the BJP. “I thought to myself where has the Congress come to. However, his appointment was only a continuum given that Nana Patole from the BJP and Revanth Reddy from the RSS had earlier been appointed as presidents of Maharashtra and Telangana respectively.”
Hitting back at the Congress which criticised him for his willingness to tie up with the BJP, Singh said, “A party that today hurls accusations at me for taking up the farmers cause with the NDA/BJP government at the Centre did not think twice before getting into bed with the Shiv Sena when it suited it. Who is communal and who is therefore secular, it is for the people to judge. They are no fools.”
