Amarinder Singh hopes new Punjab CM will stand with farmers

A day after he quit as Chief Minister amid the Punjab Congress crisis, Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday expressed unhappiness at having to cancel the scheduled disbursement of appointment letters to families of 150 farmers who had lost their lives in the ongoing agitation against the farm laws.

The outgoing chief minister said that with the new CM-designate already announced, he would unfortunately not be able to personally hand over job letters to the next of kin of the deceased farmers even though his council of ministers had already accorded approval to the proposal. He hoped the new chief minister would carry out the task at the earliest to provide relief to the affected families.

Captain Amarinder urged the CM-designate, Charanjit Singh Channi, to ensure that the state government continues to stand with the beleaguered farmers of Punjab, “who have sacrificed their lives in our collective fight for justice”.

Captain made it clear that he would continue to support the farmers in their battle for survival and justice. “Every Punjabi, in fact every Indian, is morally bound to stand with the farmers in their hour of despair,” he said, asserting that even though he was no longer holding the state’s reins, his heart remained with the farmers and their families and he would do everything in his power to ensure that they get their due.

Capt Amarinder Singh congratulated Channi through a tweet. Captain tweeted, “My best wishes to Charanjit Singh Channi. I hope he’s able to keep the border state of Punjab safe and protect our people from the growing security threat from across the border.”