Punjab assembly elections: Congress made mistake by announcing CM face on caste lines, says Amarinder Singh

The former chief minister also warned of an explosion soon from Navjot Singh Sidhu, saying the PCC president was too ambitious to stay quiet for long. Notably, Sidhu was the other main contender for Congress' chief ministerial face.

Alleging that leaders like Channi and Deputy CM Sukhjinder Randhawa had backstabbed him and misled the Congress high command after he had supported them in their political careers, Amarinder said these men could not be trusted. They will compromise the interests of Punjab to further their own, he warned in a statement.

He said there was no comparison between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as far as political and public life experience go. He said he had known Modi for long and used to meet him frequently in Delhi at a time when they were both chief ministers, adding that the Modi government had helped him whenever Punjab was in dire straits.

We have to work with them to ensure a safe future for Punjab, he said. The future of Punjab depends on the upcoming polls, he said, underlining the need for close Centre-state coordination to secure the state's interests.

On whether his wife, MP Preneet Kaur, will campaign for him or the Congress, Amarinder said it was for her to decide. "Politics is different my mother was in the BJP and I was in the Congress. We sat in opposite benches in parliament politics politics hoti hai, pyaar pyaar hota hai," he remarked. He also urged the people to vote for vikas (development) and not vinaash (destruction).