Punjab Congress leaders have declared Captain Amarinder Singh the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections. State Congress Vice President and MLA Sunil Jakhar, party leader Manpreet Badal and other former ministers projected Singh as the party’s chief ministerial nominee during a rally in Abohar on Sunday, reported Hindustan Times.

However, the Congress high command has not yet officially named anyone their chief ministerial candidate. On Saturday, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi had refused to formally declare Singh the chief ministerial candidate, saying the party had a tradition of making such an announcement after the elections.

This comes two days after 42 Congress legislators, including Singh, resigned from the Punjab Assembly to mark their protest against a Supreme Court verdict. The apex court had struck down a Punjab law dismissing a pact to share water with five other states through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal.

The Punjab Congress president had accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of “failing to protect the interests” of the state. At Sunday’s rally, Singh said he will protect the last drop of Punjab’s water. “When we resigned, we decided to sit at the tail end of Punjab canals where water does not reach,” he added.