DH Exclusive | Everyone wants to become minister in first term, says Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh

Amid a political standoff in Rajasthan, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday rued that unlike in the past, young leaders nowadays want to assume posts of power soon after entering politics.

“I remember becoming a minister for the first time around 16-17 years after entering politics. But the problem is nowadays everyone wants to become a minister in their first term,” Singh told DH.

“That is something we need to understand— things don’t work like that. Everyone has to wait for their turn,” Singh said responding to a question on the inability of the Congress to hold on to power in states such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Singh’s comments also come against the backdrop of a somewhat similar power struggle in Punjab with a new entrant to the Congress— Navjyot Singh Sidhu and the chief minister’s running battle with fellow partyman Partap Singh Bajwa.

Singh said there was no generational fight in Rajasthan, but differences within the party which were cashed in by the BJP.

“There is no generational fight in Rajasthan. There are some differences between youth and seniors everywhere. But unfortunately, the gaps here were narrow, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, and so the BJP took advantage of it,” the armyman-turned-politican said.

AICC general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia had walked out of the Congress in March along with 22 MLAs which led to the fall of chief minister Kamal Nath’s government.

Scindia’s exit from the Congress came after a bitter fight with senior leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, who were trying to edge him out of state politics.

Scindia was a contender for the post of Madhya Pradesh chief minister, which went to Kamal Nath after the Congress won a slender majority in the December 2018 Assembly elections.

The crisis in Rajasthan was precipitated by the intense power struggle between Chief Minister Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot. Like Scindia, 42-year-old Pilot was also a contender for the chief minister’s post in Rajasthan after the December 2018 elections but was trumped by 67-year-old Gehlot.