Chandigarh:Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said he will launch a new political party ahead of the next year's assembly polls to counter the Congress party.
Addressing a press meet, he said that he has a blueprint in place for the ensuing assembly polls and will contest all the 117 seats. Punjab will go for polls early next year.
"I can't tell you the name right now. I have applied to the Election Commission for a party name and symbol. When it approves a name and symbol, only then I can tell you. Let's wait for the EC to approve. We have made a request for a symbol and a name for the party," the former CM said.
Singh said that during his 4.5 years as the Chief Minister of Punjab, he delivered more than 90 per cent of the promises made in the 2017 election manifesto.
Amarinder Singh had faced an unceremonious exit from the state government last month, following months of a bitter fight with the Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu took a dig at Singh calling the latter as 'BJP loyal CM'. "We the 78 MLAs of Congress, could never imagine, what we received an arm-twisted, ED controlled BJP loyal Chief Minister of Punjab @capt_amarinder… who sold the interests of Punjab to save his skin ! You were the negative force stalling Justice & development of Punjab," Sidhu tweeted.
Levelling charges against the Captain Sidhu wrote, "You wanted to close doors on me, as i was raising voice of the People, speaking truth to power ! Last time you formed your own party, you lost your ballot, garnering only 856 votes … People of Punjab are again waiting to punish you for compromising on the interests of Punjab !!"
Saying goodbye to the Congress which made him the Chief Minister of Punjab twice and the state party president thrice, an 'upset' Amarinder Singh last week said that he would soon announce the launch of his own political party to serve the interests of the people, including the farmers who've been fighting for their rights for over a year now.
On Tuesday, Punjab deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said it would be a "big mistake" if Amarinder Singh floated a new political party.
Earlier, Congress leader Navjot Kaur Sidhu said, "I don't think any Congress MLA will leave and join Amarinder Singh's party. If he gave favours to anyone then they might go."
When asked about the former Punjab Chief Minister's new political party, the Congress leader said, "People who are attached to the party will never go."
She took a dig at the former chief minister, saying that despite getting all the freedom from the Congress, Singh did not entrust any worker with some power. "He was given all the freedom by the party but he didn't give power to any worker, never openly met any minister or MLA. Who will trust him?" she asked.
Since his resignation as the CM, Amarinder Singh has been targeting state Congress president Navjot Sidhu by publically saying that he would fight his possible elevation to the chief ministership tooth and nail, and is ready to make any sacrifice to save the country from such a 'dangerous man'.
He has also claimed that Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were "quite inexperienced" and "their advisors were clearly misguiding them". After months of infighting within the Congress, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had submitted his resignation on September 18.
