"The Congress has not only lost in Punjab but also in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur and the Gandhis are entirely to be blamed for the party's shameful defeat," he said, adding that the fact was that the people, across the country, had lost faith in the leadership of the Gandhis.

 

Pointing out that many senior leaders within the party were outrightly blaming the infighting in the Punjab Congress and the 'anti-party' statements of Navjot Sidhu for the abysmal performance in Punjab, the former chief minister said the Congress was comfortably placed in the state till he was sacked to favour certain sycophants.

 

The party had dug its own grave in the border state the day they decided to back an "unstable" and "pompous" person like Sidhu, and naming a corrupt man like Charanjit Singh Channi as chief minister just months before the polls, he said.

 

The CWC leaders who were claiming that there was a strong "anti-incumbency" against his (Capt Amarinder's) government had conveniently forgotten that he had won every election for the party since 2017, the last being the civic bodies election in February 2021, just seven months before his unceremonious removal, he pointed out.

 

"These leaders are just sycophants who are trying to shield the family by shifting blame and closing their eyes to the writing on the wall," he said, adding that the Congress had no future under the present setup.

 

Capt Amarinder said the real reason for the party's defeat in Punjab was the failure of the high command to first favour and then fail to reign in people like Sidhu, who indulged in tarnishing the image of the party for their own personal gains.

 

He said: "In their efforts to discredit me, the party high command joined hands with Navjot and others, and in the process ended up discrediting the party totally".

 

Capt Amarinder said though he did not owe any explanation to the CWC or the Congress party, he had chosen to react to the comments of these leaders just to clarify his position to the people of Punjab, to whom he still felt accountable.

 

The former chief minister said that he had been sending fortnightly reports on his government's achievements to AICC acting president, Sonia Gandhi, and not once had she complained on them.

 

"Even three weeks before they sacked me, I had offered to quit but Sonia Gandhi had insisted that I stay and lead the party in 2022 elections," said Capt Amarinder.

 

He said the real reason for the Congress defeat in Punjab was the failure of the high command to reign in people like Sidhu, who indulged in tarnishing the image of the party for their own personal gains.

 

"In their efforts to discredit me, the party high command joined hands with Navjot and others, and in the process ended up discrediting the party totally," he said.