'Congress Has Gained from Amarinder Singh's Exit': Punjab CM

Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi. Image used for representational purposes. 

(Photo: Charanjit Singh Channi Facebook Page)

In an interview with NDTV's Sreenivasan Jain, Congress Chief Minster Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday, 24 November, claimed that the Congress has gained from Captain Amarinder Singh's exit.

"We have gained by the exit of Captain Amarinder. The party's graph is going upwards now. He will cut the Opposition votes," Channi said in the TV interview.

After leading the Congress party to victory in the 2017 state elections, Singh had resigned as the chief minister in September following a power tussle with Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Channi also retorted to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's accusation that he was an imposter, a 'fake Kejriwal' who was copying the Aam Aadmi Party's pre-poll promises. He said that Kejriwal was clueless about who the "aam aadmi (common man)" in Punjab is.

"When he realised he made a mistake by calling me a 'fake Aam Aadmi', he is now saying I am 'fake Kejriwal'." He added that he is cutting the price of petrol and making electricity free based on his lived experience.

"I am making decisions based on the difficulties I faced. These are not electoral promises. I am seeing those people who are not being able to pay these bills," he told NDTV.

'Four Years' Work in Four Months Time'

On being asked how he plans to make an impact with the fast approaching Assembly elections he said that he will do four years' work in a time period of four months.

"Neither do I sleep, nor do I let officers sleep. The system has changed," he iterated.

The CM also shed light on the speculated rift in the Congress and said that he liked the criticism thrown at him by Sidhu.

"I always like criticism. Wether it's from outside my party or within my party. It's better if it comes from within the party, if someone is saying something I can go and explain to them that it's not correct," the CM asserted.

(With inputs from NDTV.)