The decision to appoint a successor for former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who resigned on Saturday, is likely to be made by Sunday afternoon, NDTV reported. Punjab Congress MLAs have authorised party president Sonia Gandhi to pick a new legislature party leader, the chief minister of the state. 

Singh’s resignation comes months before Punjab polls. The 79-year-old said that he had been “humiliated thrice” and that the Congress is free to “appoint whoever they trust”. He also said he would “exercise his options when the time comes”.

Over 50 MLAs had written to Sonia Gandhi demanding that he be replaced. A meeting of Punjab MLAs announced by the Congress late Friday, with big hints that a majority of them had asked for change, drove a crisis of months to breaking point. Congress’s Punjab in-charge Harish Rawat tweeted about the meeting and Amarinder Singh’s rival Navjot Singh Sidhu shared the post.

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Emerging from a meeting in Chandigarh, Harish Rawat, the party’s Punjab in-charge, said legislators had passed two resolutions.

The first resolution thanked Amarinder Singh for his tenure. The second one authorised Sonia Gandhi to choose the next Congress Legislative Party leader who would then become the Chief Minister.

“We’ve sent two resolutions to the party high command which was passed in Congress Legislative Party today. We’re waiting for their (party high command) decision,” Rawat said.

The Congress’s observer for Punjab, Ajay Maken, said there was no discussion on the name of a Congress Legislative Party leader. He told reporters today that 78 of the 80 party MLAs were present in Friday’s meeting.

“We expect that the party will continue to get guidance of Amarinder Singh,” Maken said.

 Singh has, meanwhile, already opposed Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Punjab Congress President, as the next Chief minister, calling him an “incompetent man”.

“He is going to be a disaster. I will oppose his name for the next Chief Ministerial face. He has a connection with Pakistan. It will be a threat to national security,” Mr Singh told news agency ANI.

“He is friends with (Pakistan Army chief) Qamar Javed Bajwa and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.”

The probable names doing the rounds to replace Amarinder Singh are – former Punjab Congress chiefs Sunil Jakhar and Pratap Singh Bajwa, and Beant Singh’s grandson Ravneet Singh Bittu.