Captain Amarinder Singh: Will contest next polls to bring Punjab out of industrial, agricultural mess

When asked about what made him change his mind, the 79-year-old Chief Minister said, “When we came to power, we did not know what we were stepping into. The state’s finances were in a mess courtesy the previous government. When the Centre should be contributing to us in the form of food bills, they added Rs 31,000 crore to it, and the previous government, instead of opposing it, accepted it as a loan. The industrial sector, too, was in a mess but thankfully, I have brought in business worth Rs 71,000 crore.”

He added, “Agriculture, too, has been great this year. But everything needs time and similarly, I, too, will need some time to say that things are fine in Punjab and only then can I hang up my boots.”

During the 2017 Assembly polls, the Congress leader had said that those were his last elections. However, next year, he had said he would not hang up his boots until the state was taken out of the “mess”.

Punjab CM @capt_amarinder was our guest at #ExpressAdda today. He was in conversation with Executive Director, @IndianExpress Group, @anantgoenka and National Opinion Editor, The Indian Express, @VanditaMishraIE.

Watch the full session here 👇https://t.co/K9K9vhWwTj

— Express Adda (@ExpressAdda) March 22, 2021

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In 2019, the scion of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala had said that he would not quit politics until Punjab’s number one position was “restored” and he might fight the next assembly polls if needed.