Captain Amarinder Singh Resigns As Punjab Chief Minister

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh submitted his resignation to Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Saturday. The 79-year old Congress leader resigned from his post owing to internal party strife.

The resignation came ahead of an emergency Congress Legislature Party meeting. This is the third time in two months that a legislature party meeting is being called by the Congress, Singh said during a briefing after meeting the Governor. This posed some element of doubt against him by members of legislative assembly, which he felt humiliated by.

"I feel humiliated the way doubts have been raised against me...they (Congress) will appoint whoever they trust as the next chief minister," Singh told reporters after meeting the Governor.

Earlier today, Singh had expressed his anguish over "humiliation" meted to him, during a phone call with Sonia Gandhi, news agency PTI reported.

Over 50 MLAs in the party have written to Gandhi seeking that Singh be replaced as chief minister, a development that comes just about four months ahead of assembly elections in Punjab.

Singh has been the chief minister of Punjab since 2017, serving his second term. He was previously the chief minister of the state between 2002 and 2007.