Duty To Tell BJP My Views Doesn't Mean Leaving Party: Amarinder Singh

Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Friday that it is his duty to tell his party (BJP) what he feels about Punjab and that does not mean he is quitting the party.

He also said he is going through "difficult times" but did not elaborate further.

Singh said he is 84 but not old yet, citing Morarji Desai, who became prime minister at a very late age.

"I am 84, but Morarji Desai was also 92...," he said at the launch of the book "Bishan with Love" in memory of former cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who was also present, said he wanted Amarinder Singh to become chief minister once again and wished him so.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah was also present at the book launch, besides former cricketers Kapil Dev, Syed Kirmani and Madan Lal, among others.

Singh said, "Cricket is a game of gentlemen...it is a game that should always be promoted. So all that is happening in our country today, which Doctor Sahab can tell you much more about than I can...But we are going through a difficult time, and we need people here..."

He also jokingly said, "I'm already in trouble, so don't worry about me."

Later, when asked why he was upset with the BJP, he said, "I have spent 60 years in Punjab politics. Some people came after us and have not even been there for a year....We have seen the situation in Punjab over all these years, but they have not even asked us."

"It is my duty to tell them what my views and feelings are. I have not said that I am no longer relevant in the Congress or the BJP. Parties keep changing. When I was in the Congress, I also went to the Akali Dal over Operation Blue Star and later returned to the Congress. That does not mean I will now leave and join another party.

"But it is my duty to tell them (BJP leaders) my views and what my feelings are," Singh asserted.

There has been speculation that Singh may quit the BJP and rejoin the Congress.