At 80 and out of the Congress, though two times Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh looks politically weak but merger of his political outfit Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) into the BJP is being seen as a desperate attempt to stay politically afloat.
In the press conference after the merger, the veteran leader said he had expressed his desire to merge his political party into the BJP before leaving for Spine surgery couple of months after the assembly polls. However, political experts feel this merger as political compulsion to stay politically relevant as his political outfit got miserable response from the public and was polled lesser vote than NOTA.
As Amarinder’s son Raninder Singh, who also joined the BJP, faces Enforcement Directorate (ED) case under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), many including his political opponent believe his love for the BJP as an attempt to save the family from the cases.
In the 2022-assembly elections that he contested in alliance with the BJP and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa led Akali Dal Sanyukt, many of his official candidate, who joined into the BJP, even expressed desire to contest on the BJP ticket and he himself lost elections from his stronghold Patiala.
On Friday, even as his merger into the BJP was anticipated to be a high-profile affair where it was anticipated that the former Congress stalwart would be able to bring in some popular faces into the saffron party, but it proved to be a low key-affair.
{{/usCountry}}On Friday, even as his merger into the BJP was anticipated to be a high-profile affair where it was anticipated that the former Congress stalwart would be able to bring in some popular faces into the saffron party, but it proved to be a low key-affair.
{{/usCountry}}Not even a single prominent Congress leader joined the BJP even as the media and close aide of the Captain, throughout the day, kept on speculating about names of few former ministers as the new entrant into the BJP.
While former deputy speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti, was already expelled by the Congress as his wife had contested 2022-assembly polls from Bhadaur segment against official party nominee and then Chief minister Charanjeet Channi, two times MLA Harchand Kaur had already canvassed for the BJP candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon, during Sangrur by-poll. Former member of parliament from Ludhiana, Amrik Singh Aliwal and Kewal Singh, who had represented Bathinda Lok Sabha seat when it was reserved segment were the other prominent faces. Ex-MLAs, who were already in PLC, including Prem Mittal, Harjinder Thekedar also joined the party.
“BJP has inducted Captain as they are starting from scratch in the state. Whereas Amarinder has availed only option left before him if he has to remain in politics,” feels Parmod Kumar, political expert and Director, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh.
He said now the way things have come out in the merger ceremony, it is now BJP’s call to make best use of him by giving him some position.
In his new inning in the BJP, Amarinder now has five former ministers, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Gurpreet Kangar and Balbir Sidhu, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi and Sundar Sham Arora, who had worked under him as Cabinet colleagues. He also had former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Sunil Jakhar, who had once worked closely with him but later had fell apart. But insiders in the BJP says, equations have changed now as these leaders have not joined through Amarinder and it would be interesting to see how these old friends support the Captain. For BJP, Amarinder, a Jat-Sikh leader, may not be a “prized possession” at this juncture in the perception game but becasue of his stalwart status and nationalist appeal, the party have tried to make a point in Punjab where teh party is making desperate attempts to woo Sikh faces.
Captain’s journey so far:
-In 1963, Captain Amarinder Singh, a Graduate of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) and the National Defense Academy (NDA), served in the Sikh regiment and served for three years including giving services in Indo-Pak War of 1965.
- Joined Congress and became MP in 1980. Despite being a close personal friend of the Gandhis, he left the party protest against operation blue-star in 1984.
-Joined Akali Dal after his resignation and was made Agriculture Minister in Surjit Singh Barnala’s government in September 1985.
-Singh returned to the Congress in 1998 after the Akalis denied him a ticket for the elections in 1997.
-Appointed party’s state chief by Sonia Gandhi, and he guided it to a stellar showing in the 1999 Lok Sabha election.
-Single handedly guided the Congress to victory in 2002 and his career reached its peak in 2004 when he led the state government to pass the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act against the wishes of the Congress high-command.
-Captain’s career was going down after the Congress lost two assembly polls in 2002 and 2012 but he got shot in the arm when he defeated senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat in 2014.
-In 2017, the Congress won 77 seats under his leadership and in 2019, the party won 9 Lok Sabha seats when the congress was disseminated in other parts of the country.
-In September 2021 he was removed as Chief Minister and he broke all the ties with the Congress and announced the formation of a new party – Punjab Lok congress. However, the party failed to impress the people of Punjab in the recent elections.