‘Can’t handle insult; won’t remain in Congress’: Amarinder Singh a day after meeting Amit Shah

News Network
September 30, 2021

Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday, Sept 30, in a shocking claim on Thursday said that he would be leaving Congress.

"I'm not joining BJP but am leaving Congress, can't handle insult," Singh said in an interview. He also added that Sidhu was a childish man and a PCC chief must have more stability.

On the leadership crisis in the party, he also said that Congress was going down.

"So far I am in the Congress but I will not remain in the Congress. I have already made my position very clear. I will not be treated in this manner," the Captain said in an exclusive interview a day after meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi. Soon after the reveal, he removed "Congress" from his Twitter bio.

Pulling no punches, the Captain also predicted the Congress's downfall in Punjab and called Navjot Singh Sidhu a "childish man" who had been given a serious job by the party.

"I have been in politics for 52 years. I have my own beliefs, my own principles. The way I have been treated. At 10.30 am the Congress President says you resign. I didn't ask any questions. I said I will do it just now. At 4 pm I went to the Governor and resigned. If you doubt me after 50 years and my credibility is at stake. If there is no trust, what is the point of me staying in the party?"

Before quitting on September 18, Amarinder Singh had told Sonia Gandhi that he had been humiliated thrice by the party.

"I have made my stand very clear to the Congress that I will not be treated in this manner. I will not stand for it. I have not resigned from the Congress yet, but how can one continue in a place where there is a trust deficit? When there is no trust, one cannot continue," he said.

On the question that all, including the Congress, have for him after his meeting with Amit Shah, Mr Singh asserted: "I am not joining the BJP".

He added: "I have not resigned from the Congress but I will resign. I am not a person who takes split-second decisions. But I am not joining the BJP."

Navjot Sidhu, who played a big role in the two-time Chief Minister's abrupt exit, also stunned the party by resigning as Punjab Congress chief on Tuesday.

"Sidhu is an immature person. I have said this repeatedly that he is not a stable man. He is not a team player. He is a loner. How will he handle the Punjab Congress as its chief? For that you need to be a team player, which Sidhu is not," Mr Singh said.

Describing Mr Sidhu as "childish", he said: "Sidhu is good at creating a scene. He can do what he did in Kapil Sharma's show and get a crowd, but he is not a serious guy. How can a non-serious person be taking serious, major decisions in the running of a party and the state government. He can only do theatrics."

On Rahul Gandhi, who is facing criticism for his handling of the Punjab mess, Mr Singh said: "He wants to bring young blood into the party but refuses to listen to the advice of older leaders."

The Captain predicted doom for the Congress in the Punjab election due early next year.

"The Congress is going downhill. In the current scenario, we see in a recent survey done by the Congress between July and September that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is going up and the Congress is going down. The people clearly don't have any trust in Sidhu. Congress has seen a 20% decline according to that survey," he said.

"This election will be very different with Congress, AAP, Akali Dal, factions of the Akali Dal, and there may be another front emerging too... so, it will be a very different election," he commented. Was this front going to be his? Mr Singh did not answer.

Amid signs of another high-profile exit, the Congress had reached out to Amarinder Singh.

Sources said senior Congress leaders Ambika Soni and Kamal Nath tried to placate Mr Singh. But the Captain, who has been in Delhi since Tuesday, has tellingly not sought any meeting with his party president Sonia Gandhi as he continues his meetings with the "other side".

The former Chief Minister met with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval this morning. Sources say he may have discussed Punjab border security amid political turmoil in the state.

The 79-year-old stalwart had kept the Congress on edge, neither confirming nor denying that he is exploring his options after his exit just four months before state polls.

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News Network
November 21,2025

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Local authorities say the Israeli military has expanded the so-called “yellow line” truce demarcation in Gaza City and repositioned its forces deeper into the territory in violation of a ceasefire agreement that came into force on October 10, besieging dozens of Palestinian families.

Gaza’s Government Media Office announced in a statement on Thursday that Israeli forces widened the boundary by shifting the markers, and advanced roughly 300 meters (984 feet) into the neighborhoods of Ash-Shaaf, An-Nazzaz and Baghdad Street.

The move pushed further into civilian areas, trapping families who were unable to flee as tanks rolled forward, it added.

“The fate of many of these families remains unknown amidst the shelling that targeted the area,” the office said, adding that the expansion of the yellow line shows a “blatant disregard” for the ceasefire deal.

On Friday, sources said the Israeli military carried out continued air and artillery strikes inside the so-called “yellow line” east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to the reports, Israeli warplanes and tanks targeted areas within the zone. One Palestinian was reported killed and several others wounded in the strikes, the sources said.

The fresh aggression came only a day after 25 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City and Khan Younis on Wednesday.

The media office reported that Israel has consistently violated the truce deal since its implementation last month, with near-daily attacks by air, artillery and direct shootings.

The office said over 400 violations have been documented. These breaches have resulted in the deaths of more than 300 Palestinians and left hundreds injured.

The Government Media Office in Gaza urged the guarantors of the ceasefire — the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — to take swift action to halt the ongoing violations and facilitate the delivery of food, shelter materials, medical aid, and infrastructure equipment.

The so-called “yellow line,” set out in the agreement between Israel and Hamas resistance movement, refers to a non-physical partition where the Israeli military repositioned itself when the truce deal took effect.

It has allowed Israel, which routinely fires at Palestinians who approach the line, to retain control over more than half of the Gaza Strip.

International bodies, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and other rights groups, have concluded that the Israeli war on Gaza amounts to genocide.

In the attacks in Gaza since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 69,546 people and injured 170,833 others, leveling large swaths of the territory and displacing almost all of the population. 

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Agencies
November 22,2025

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New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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News Network
November 21,2025

Bantwal: A domestic dispute appears to have led to a violent confrontation in BC Road area, where the owner of a textile shop was allegedly attacked with a knife by his wife on Wednesday evening.

Krishna Kumar Somayaji, the owner of Somayaji Textiles, sustained serious injuries in the incident and was immediately taken to a hospital for treatment. He is currently receiving care in the intensive care unit and is reported to have survived the assault, according to police.

The Bantwal Town police have registered a case against Somayaji's wife, Jyothi KT, who has since been taken into custody.

Police stated that the complainant, Namita, an employee at the shop, reported the sequence of events. She stated that around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, the suspect entered the shop, wearing a burqa and disguised as a customer, before attacking Somayaji with a knife. The employee then transported the injured owner to a local hospital via an autorickshaw.

Superintendent of Police Arun K confirmed that an ongoing domestic dispute between Somayaji and his wife reportedly preceded the attack. Police noted that Jyothi KT had previously visited the shop and issued threats.

Based on the complaint, Bantwal Town police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Indian Arms Act-1959. An investigation into the incident is currently underway.

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