Priyanka Gandhi  |  Photo Credit: ANI
Kotkapura: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday said that the Amarinder Singh government in Punjab was being run by the BJP-led Centre.
Addressing ‘Navi Soch Nava Punjab’ rally in Punjab’s Kotkapura, Gandhi said, “We have Congress government in Punjab for last five years…(Amarinder Singh) government was stopped being run from Punjab, instead was being run from Delhi, not by Congress but BJP.”
“This hidden alliance has now come out in public… It was the reason behind bringing Charanjit Singh Channi as CM,” Gandhi said, referring to the pre-poll alliance between the BJP and Amarinder Singh’s new party, the Punjab Lok Congress.
This is the first time that anyone from the Gandhi family broke their silence on the change of leadership in the state.
Amarinder Singh, a longtime loyalist of the Gandhi family, had stepped down from the post of Punjab Chief Minister in September last year after a rift with state’s Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
In his resignation letter, Singh had said that rather than being reined in, Sidhu was patronised by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.
He had also said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had “turned a blind eye” to the “shenanigans of this gentleman who was aided and abetted by the General Secretary in-charge Harish Rawat, perhaps the most dubious individual I had the occasion to make acquaintance off.”
Singh said that despite knowing him “for the better part of his 52 years in public life” and “that too at a deeply personal level”, Sonia Gandhi never “understood” him or his “character”.
“You thought I was getting on in years and should be put to pasture. I am neither tired nor retired. I feel I have a lot to give and contribute to my beloved Punjab. I intend to soldier on and not fade away,” Singh had said.
Following Singh’s resignation and his serious allegations, the Gandhis had not given any statement out in public.