Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday resigned from the post of Chief Minister amid the ongoing tussle in the Punjab Congress. He has made it clear by resigning from the chief minister's post that he is not going to bow down to the new party president Navjot Singh Sidhu and the high command in the state. With his resignation, he has termed Sidhu as a 'disaster'. Amarinder said that I am being sidelined and humiliated at the party.
After 24 years, a CM left the term in the middle
With the resignation, Amarinder has become the first Chief Minister of Punjab to not complete his five-year term since 1997 (total 24 years). Meanwhile, in Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal and Captain Amarinder Singh served as chief ministers for two full terms. This period of 24 years was the period after the Khalistan rebellion in Punjab.
The present state of Punjab came into existence in 1966. Before 1997, only Giani Zail Singh could complete his full term as the CM of Punjab during 1972-75. Following the insurgency, assembly elections were held in Punjab in 1992, nearly five years after President's rule. After this Congress leader, Beant Singh became the Chief Minister. The first President's rule was imposed in the wake of the pro-Khalistan insurgency.
Beant Singh was assassinated while he was the Chief Minister.
Then after his assassination in 1995, two Chief Ministers took oath in Punjab before the next assembly elections in 1997. Beant Singh was the first Chief Minister to be assassinated while in office. After her successor Harcharan Singh resigned in 1996, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal became the first woman to occupy the chief minister's chair of Punjab. Incidentally, Bhattal was the Chief Minister of Punjab, who had the shortest tenure.
Amarinder won 2 assembly elections after 1966
Badal served three full terms as the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1997 to 2017. Meanwhile, Captain Amarinder Singh joined as CM from 2002-07. Captain Amarinder Singh became only the second Congress leader to complete a full term as the Chief Minister of Punjab. He is the only Punjab Chief Minister of the Congress to have won two assembly elections since the formation of Punjab in 1966.
