Declaring that he would launch his new party as soon asthe Election Commission clears the name and the symbol, former Punjab ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday hit out at the Congress, saying manypeople from the party were in touch with him and they will come out in the openwhen the time comes.
"We are waiting for the opportune moment. But I willnot take their names. Already my supporters are being harassed," saidAmarinder Singh, addressing his first press conference after stepping down asChief Minister.
Asked how many MLAs were in touch with him, he quipped,"if Rahul Gandhi needs to have back-to-back meetings with Punjab CongressMLAs, what does it mean?"
As to why he had not resigned yet from the party,Amarinder Singh said, "I have spent 50 years in the Congress, how does itmanner if I stay for another 10 days?"
He rejected the Congress claims of a majority of the MLAsopposing his continuation in office, and said "once they (partyleadership) had made up their mind to replace me, all these excuses weremade".
Pointing out that the so-called 18-point agenda of theCongress for his government was nothing but part of the Punjab 2017 manifesto,he said the Kharge committee was clearly told that 92 per cent of all pollpromises had been fulfilled.
Taking on his detractors, particularly Navjot Singh Sidhuand Sukhjinder Randhawa, Amarinder Singh slammed them for indulging in pettyissues. "We will fight and defeat Sidhu from wherever he contests theupcoming Assembly polls," he vowed, adding since the former had taken overthe Punjab Congress reins, there had been a 25 per cent drop in the party'spopularity, as per his surveys.
Trashing allegations against his Pakistani friend AroosaAlam, Amarinder Singh termed as baseless the charges of money being sent out byher. Even as he asked if Aroosa was the only issue left in Punjab, hequestioned the intention of Randhawa in raising the issue now after neverraking it up all these years.
Aroosa had been visiting him for 16 years and he woulddefinitely invite her again, he added.
Pointing out that he had never spoken of aligning withthe BJP, Amarinder Singh said what he wanted to do was seat sharing. "Inmilitary parlays it means concentration of forces," he remarked, adding hehad, however, not yet talked to the BJP on this.
Dismissing as trash Sidhu's tweet accusing him of beingloyal to BJP, he said the thought of seat sharing with the BJP came to his mindonly after he was forced out of office. "States have to work with theCentre to function effectively," he pointed out.
He further made it clear that he had no intention ofaligning with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) but only with breakaway Akaligroups.
Countering propaganda that nothing had happened in theBargari and other sacrilege cases, the former chief minister said all underinvestigation. As many as 19 police officers and 21 civilians were booked, hesaid, pointing out that all these processes take time.
On the political issues he will prioritize in theelections, the former CM said a manifesto committee would finalise the same.Issues keep changing, he added.