Chandra Shekhar betrayed me, I am responsible for 21 deaths: Amarinder Singh

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has lamented the deaths of 21 Khalisatni militants during the tenure of Chandra Shekhar, who served as the eighth Prime Minister of India from November 1990 to June 1991.

Speaking at the launch of "The People's Maharaja," his authorised biography, Amarinder Singh claimed that Chandra Shekhar betrayed him and that he was responsible for the death of 21 Khalistani militants.

Elaborating further he said that he was told that some militants wanted to surrender and so he dialled the PM's number and informed him about it. The Prime Minister seemed happy at their decision and asked Amarinder Singh to facilitate their surrender.

The Punjab CM facilitated the surrender of 21 militants at the residence of the then PM but it was after six months that he learnt that all the 21 Khalisatni militants had been killed. He added that he regretted trusting Chandra Shekhar and never initiated any other surrender ever since.

"I felt betrayed by then PM Chandra Shekhar after 21 Khalistani militants I arranged to surrender were killed. Never spoke to him after that," Singh tweeted immediately after the programme from his verified twitter handle.

Singh also stuck to his stand on the Khalistani supporters in Canadian government, saying that the Justin Trudeau dispensation has several Khalistani supporters.

Earlier Amarinder Singh had refused to meet Canadian Defence Minister of Indian-origin Harjit Singh Sajjan accusing him and other ministers of Punjab origin in the government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of links to radical elements demanding a separate Sikh state of Khalistan.

No minister or senior officer of the Punjab government either went to welcome Sajjan or even accompany him during the visit.

"These people have ruined my land. They want to destroy Punjab. I know that the Canadian government has Khalistani supporters," he said at the book launch.

The Punjab CM was in a conversation with Suhel Seth and his biography has been written by Khushwant Singh, not to be confused with the late writer of the much acclaimed 1956 historical novel "Train to Pakistan".

--IANS

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