Amarinder Singh says a bulk of Congress Punjab MLAs are involved in illegal sand mining

Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has revealed that multiple Congress MLAs, many of whom are still in the government, were involved in illegal sand mining. He said, “As far as the issue of illegal sand mining was concerned, the offenders, unfortunately, were the substantive bulk of Congress MLAs and ministers, including an overwhelming number in the current government.” Captain Amarinder Singh sent a seven-page resignation letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and gave multiple reasons behind his resignation.

Regarding the illegal mining case, Captain Amarinder said that he regrets not taking any action while he could have and he will make the list of those ministers involved public in the coming days. He said in the letter, “One of my enduring regrets would remain as to why I did not take some of them to the task. The thought it would embarrass the party held me back. However, I do intend to make the list of these people public as this has been provided to me by the Government of Punjab and State Intelligence from time to time.”

Captain Amarinder Singh’s reason behind the resignation

He said that he was against Sidhu's appointment as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief as he was with BJP for almost 14 years. Amarinder Singh said in the letter to Sonia Gandhi, "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 Singh who had publicly hugged the Pakistan Army chief Gen Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan, as the president of Punjab Congress Committee. Khan and Bajwa are the people responsible for sending terrorists across the border to kill Indians. It may be noted that 82 of Punjabi soldiers have been martyred in Jammu and Kashmir since my government took over in 2017." He further added, "Sidhu's only claim to fame was that he would abuse me and my government on a regular basis. I am old enough to be his father but did not stop him from using the filthiest and most vile language against me both publicly and privately."

Captain Amarinder's Resignation by Republic World on Scribd

As Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu openly battled each other, Congress summoned a Legislative Party meeting on September 18 and did not inform the Punjab CM of the same. Harish Rawat, the in-charge for Punjab whom Captain Amarinder refers to as a dubious individual, said that the party was asked by a large number of MLAs to schedule a meeting. As the CM was not told, the speculation grew that he will be ousted. Due to this incident, Singh tendered his resignation to Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, saying that he will not tolerate the "humiliation".

He was introduced to the party back in 1980 by his friend from school Rajiv Gandhi. However, he protested against Operation Blue Star and left the party in 1984, following which, he joined Shiromani Akali Dal. He later became a minister in Punjab’s state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats before finally becoming the Chief Minister.