NEW DELHI: Amarinder Singh, who was removed as Punjab CM unceremoniously by the Congress, on Wednesday said Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka are “quite inexperienced” and claimed “their advisers were clearly misguiding them.”
“Priyanka and Rahul (Gandhi) are like my children … this should not have ended like this. I am hurt,” said the former Punjab CM in a series of interviews.
Amarinder disclosed that he had offered his resignation to Sonia Gandhi 3 weeks before he stepped down, but she had asked him to continue.
“If she had called me and asked me to step down, I’d have,” he said, adding “as a soldier, I know how to do my task and leave once called back.”
“I would not have taken MLAs on a flight to Goa or some place. That is not how I operate. I don’t do gimmicks, and the Gandhi siblings know that is not my way,” he said.
Amarinder was forced to quit as Punjab chief minister after the Congress high command backed his detractors in the state unit.
The party appointed Navjot Singh Sidhu as the chief of Punjab unit despite a very vocal and open opposition by Amarinder.
The two leaders openly traded barbs at each other and the state unit was divided into two camps.
However, Sidhu along with several MLAs opposed to the chief minister, kept up relentless pressure on Amarinder and the party high command eventually asked him to step down.
(With inputs from agencies)
