When angry Amarinder threatened to quit Congress

Punjab’s newly-appointed Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh told Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in 2015 that he was ready to quit and float his own outfit if he was not appointed state party chief.

An authorised biography of Amarinder Singh claims that even though Sonia Gandhi was open to bringing Singh back at the helm in Punjab, Rahul Gandhi was dead against taking away the baton from Pratap Singh Bajwa.

Tensions reached a high point in October 2015 in the capital when Rahul asked Amarinder if he was floating his own party to which Singh replied: "What you've heard is absolutely correct," biographer Khushwant Singh, not to be confused with the late literary giant, quotes him as saying in "Captain Amarinder Singh: The People's Maharaja".

"If I do not fit in your scheme of things, I will need to find an alternative. I live in Punjab; the Akalis have ruined Punjab and I have to look for my own path if you don't have a plan for me," the biography quotes Amarinder as telling Rahul. Gandhi, on his part, said that if this step was taken both the Congress and Amarinder would be the losers. "So be it," contended Singh.

Eventually, Amarinder was appointed as the Punjab Pradesh Congress president on November 27, 2015. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister on Thursday after the Congress romped home with 77 seats in the 117-member assembly.

"Amarinder Singh, who had enjoyed a very cordial relationship with Sonia Gandhi, suddenly felt coldshouldered by the Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi, whom Amarinder Singh would frequently take out for outings whenever he visited Doon School to meet his son Raninder, was adamant that he would not consider the case of his father's friend," Khushwant Singh writes.

Singh then went on to question the leadership ability of Rahul Gandhi time and again but the Congress high command "seemed to be shutting its eyes, the ground reality notwithstanding".

After his pride had been hurt, he was advised by his supporters to float his own party, but Singh held Sonia Gandhi in high esteem.