Congress rout: Sonia says shielding Amarinder Singh was mistake, Captain blames Gandhis

Congress President Sonia Gandhi reportedly told the CWC meeting held on Sunday to review Congress' crushing defeat in Assembly polls that shielding former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh was her mistake.

When a senior leader questioned the timing of Amarinder Singh's removal as Chief Minister, late last year, saying it should have been done much earlier and was very badly handled, Sonia Gandhi intervened and said she was to be blamed as she shielded him for a long time, NDTV has reported quoting sources.

Amarinder Singh, on the other hand, on Monday held the Gandhis totally responsible for the rout of the Congress in the assembly polls. He claimed that the party was “comfortably placed” in Punjab before he was unseated as Chief Minister.

In a statement a day after the CWC took stock of the drubbing, Singh took digs at the “pompous” state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu and the “corrupt” Charanjit Singh Channi, who replaced him as Chief Minister.

The Congress scored just 18 seats out of 117 while the Aam Aadmi Party got 92 in a stunning sweep in Punjab.