Chandigarh: ‘Neither tired nor retired’ – Amarinde Singh asserted in a Nov. 2 letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi after a bitter spat forced him to resign as chief minister After taking office, he resigned from the party. The 79-year-old politician made it clear that he still had politics left in him.
For the three-term chief minister, this election is a big gap from the last. In 2017, he was a heavyweight Congress general who led the party to a sweeping victory, quelling a wave of support for Narendra Modi a year after the BJP took power in the centre. This time, he’s a much smaller player running a three-month-old party looking to upend arithmetic in a high-stakes election.
Mr Singh was born in Patiala to the parents of Yadavendra Singh and Maharani Mohind Kaur, the last ruling monarch of Patiala. He attended the elite Lawrence School and the Doon School.
Known for his flamboyance, he cooked up a feast for Indian Olympic heroes and played the role of head chef from the tee. A few days later, he resigned as chief minister.
Mr Singh has the unanimous support of Patiala voters because of his royal background, but it has also exposed him to sneers from rivals who claim that ordinary people cannot get a “maharaja”.
A key criticism of Singh during his last term as chief minister was his perceived inaccessibility. In states where chief ministers like Parkash Singh Badal and Beant Singh interact with the public, Mr Singh is said to have gotten him through bureaucrats running the government from farmhouses unwelcome. That’s why he didn’t notice his waning control over the Punjab Congress.
As discontent within the party grew, congressional leadership moved quickly to carry out what Mr Singer described as a “midnight conspiracy” against him.
In his resignation letter, Mr Singh lamented that he was “deeply hurt” by the actions of Mrs Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, “since we have known their fathers. , I still love my own children deeply because they have met their father. At school…”.
Ironically, during his time in Congress, the veteran has supported the Gandhi brothers and sisters in their leadership of Congress. After Rahul Gandhi stepped down as party chairman, he had said Ms Vadra had the wisdom, intuition and courage to lead the party.
Mr Singh, aka “Captain”, has now been linked to the BJP, hoping to benefit from its resources and electoral machinery as he tries to stay afloat in Punjab’s political waters. The BJP hopes to benefit from Mr Singh’s position as it tries to reverse the huge setback it has faced on the now-revoked farm law.
The BJP’s Punjab hopes depend on the former royal as farmers protest force the centre to repeal three controversial farm laws. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party wants to be the big brother in the coalition – a position it could never get after decades of working with Shiromani Akali Dal.
Complete News Source : NDTV
