Punjab Congress in damage control mode after Captain resigns, to discuss impact on party

Soon after former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh officially gave his resignation from the Congress with a scorching 7-page letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, the state Congress is now in a damage control mode. State Party-in charge Harish Chaudhary all of a sudden invited the MLAs for dinner in Chandigarh. The dinner invitation was sent immediately after Captain's resignation. 

Current Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Navjot Singh Sidhu were among the 45 MLAs who arrived at Punjab Bhawan following the dinner invite by Chaudhary. As per sources, Captain's new party and possible damage to the Congress party will be discussed at the dinner. 

Captain Amarinder Singh resigns from the Congress party

Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has formally resigned from the Congress Party days after announcing to float his own party in Punjab ahead of the 2022 assembly elections in the state. Amarinder Singh had tendered his resignation as Punjab CM after being humiliated by the party on several occasions.

Stating that he was against Navjot Singh Sidhu's appointment as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Amarinder Singh in a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi, said, " 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 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."

Amarinder Singh Announces His New Party 'Punjab Lok Congress' 

Captain Amarinder Singh also announced his new political party 'Punjab Lok Congress', which is awaiting approval for name and logo from the Election Commission. It is this party with which Captain Amarinder intends to contest the 2022 Punjab Elections, for which he has sought a seat-share alliance with the BJP. 

The Election Commission has no objection to the proposed name, Punjab Lok Congress, he said. About the party symbol, Capt Amarinder said, the Election Commission had given three symbols from which one was to be chosen. He said his party has also submitted three different symbols and the final symbol will be chosen from the set of six symbols, three suggested by the Election Commission and three proposed by the party.