Amarinder Singh to form 'Punjab Vikas Party': Sources
Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Oct, 2021 10:52 AM
New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is soon going to announce a new party. According to sources, the name of Captain's new party will be 'Punjab Vikas Party'.
According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.
Earlier, the Captain had said that his first goal is to defeat former Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu. In such a situation, a strong contender will be fielded in the upcoming Assembly elections against Sidhu from his newly-formed party.
Meanwhile, Singh will also contact all the farmers' leaders of Punjab. He will also get in touch with small parties, sources said.
On Thursday, Amarinder Singh said: "I have been in politics for 52 years, but they treated me like this. At 10.30 Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked me to resign. I did not ask any question. At 4 o'clock I went to the Governor and submitted my resignation. If you still doubt me after 50 years... My credibility is at stake and there is no trust, then there is no point in being in the party."
After this statement, he announced that he was quitting the Congress. He made it clear that he was leaving the Congress, but will not join the BJP. He also said that he was deeply hurt by the humiliation that he had to face from the top leadership of the Congress.
It is not the first time that Amarinder Singh has announced to quit the Congress party.
In 1980 he won the Lok Sabha elections on the Congress symbol, but after the Operation Blue Star in 1984, he left the Congress to join the Akali Dal. He rejoined the Congress in 1998.
After paying floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at Central Hall of Parliament, Defence Minister Singh tweeted, "Paid tributes to former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi ji on his birth anniversary at Parliament House today."
Microsoft and MAQ Software will set up their units in Noida whereas PepsiCo has started construction of its factory in Mathura, said an Industrial Department official.
Stressing that Rajiv Gandhi was a close friend, Amarinder Singh recalled that he always used ask when the day will come when people will have their own houses to live and India would be free from poverty. He, therefore, thought it apt to launch this scheme on the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, said the Chief Minister, adding that the Congress had fighting for the people for the last 130 years.
Sisodia, who is also the nodal minister for Covid management in the national capital, stated that no one can deny that Delhi grappled with an oxygen shortage during the peak of the second wave of the Covid pandemic (April-May) and several people died due to oxygen shortage.
Speaking at the meeting, Sonia Gandhi said, "Monsoon session of Parliament was a complete washout entirely due to the government's obstinate and arrogant unwillingness to discuss and debate urgent issues of public importance."
The Chief Secretary said the 300-bed state of the art hospital will act as a tertiary care centre for the entire northern region, comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
