Felt humiliated, Amarinder Singh quits as Punjab CM

As this website predicted on Saturday forenoon, Captain Amrinder Singh resigned as the Punjab chief minister. Ahead of the Congress Legislative Party meeting on Saturday, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh handed over his resignation to the Governor Banwarilal Purohit. The resignation comes less than five months before the Assembly elections in Punjab. Amarinder Singh, facing rebellion and in-house attacks for months, had reportedly told Sonia Gandhi he had put up with enough humiliation.  Singh had fought the party's order to resign, which raises the possibility of a split in the Congress just months before the Punjab election.

Singh was having political tussle with Navjot Singh Sidhu who was recently appointed as the chief of the Congress' Punjab unit. It is said that over 50 MLAs had written to Sonia Gandhi demanding that Amarinder Singh be replaced as Chief Minister, forcing the party to announce late last night an emergency meeting of MLAs. Last month, four ministers and around two dozen party legislators raised fresh complaints against Amarinder Singh, telling the leadership that they had no faith in his ability to honour poll promises.

After resignation, Singh told reporters that the high command can make whoever they have faith in the next chief minister of the state. "I told Sonia Gandhi this kind of humiliation is enough, this is happening for the third time. I can't continue to stay in the party with this kind of humiliation," Singh said.

(Also read: Will Amrinder Singh resign or continue?)