Farmers Movement Archive

Congress was ready for 'other playouts' post Captain's ouster

NEW DELHI: As it moved to unseat Amarinder Singh, Congress worked on several likely scenarios, including the possibility of the governor delaying a new government in case the former Punjab chief minister recommended dissolution of the House. As it happened, Singh did not go that far, but Congress managers had assessed that the Centre may not have been overly interested in sending a soft signal to the governor as it did not have much skin in the game. There was not much likelihood of any alternative to a Congress government, such as a patch-work, emerging. Read AlsoPunjab: Rahul Gandhi behind shake-up that started 4 months backRahul Gandhi has been in the thick of a political shakeup in Punjab that started around four months ago. The elevation of maverick Navjot Sidhu as the state unit chief followed by unceasing attacks on Amarinder Singh and then his ouster, are widely seen to have the backing of the GandhiCongress sources said that it was felt that BJP would not see any benefit of being linked to a messy political drama so close to the elections where any "break-and-match" formula could hardly yield any returns. Though the former CM has been closer to BJP on national security issues, his vocal opposition to farm laws does not make it easy to reach any arrangement with BJP. Read AlsoAfter day of drama, Channi is Punjab’s first Dalit Sikh CMPunjab got its first Dalit Sikh CM in Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday as Congress ended a day of back-and-forth over Captain Amarinder Singh's successor with a surprise pick it claimed was the "unanimous choice." AICC's Punjab minder Harish Rawat indicated that the party was likely to appoint twoIn any case, Congress was ready to rush to the apex court to contend that any recommendation for dissolution would not be legit. The party felt that it had a strong case and any attempted manipulation of the situation would be struck down.

The Times of India

2021-09-20

India