Punjab’s former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday by merging his party, the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC), with it, according to a spokesperson of his outfit.
PLC spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal confirmed that Singh will join the BJP and said the former chief minister will leave for the national capital on Sunday.
People familiar with the matter said the merger will take place on September 19.
Singh, 80, served two terms as Punjab CM from 2002-07 and 2017-21.
The former CM recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah in the national capital amid reports that he was likely to get a key role in the BJP after joining it.
Singh floated the PLC after parting ways with the Congress after he was asked to step down as chief minister by the party’s central leadership last year.
Charanjit Singh Channi replaced him as chief minister till the February elections. Both Singh and Channi lost the polls that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party swept.
The PLC contested the elections in alliance with the BJP and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Akali Dal (Sanyukt) but failed to make any headway.
{{/usCountry}}The PLC contested the elections in alliance with the BJP and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Akali Dal (Sanyukt) but failed to make any headway.
{{/usCountry}}According to their seat-sharing arrangement, the BJP contested 65 seats, the PLC 37 (with a number of candidates preferring to contest on the BJP symbol), and the SAD (Sanyukt) on 15 seats.
Six Congress leaders, including a few former MLAs, are set to join the BJP along with the former chief minister, according to PLC functionaries.
Singh quit as the Congress chief minister in September last year barely four months before completing his second tenure.
Parmod Kumar, head of the Institute for Development and Communication in Chandigarh, said that the BJP is aiming to occupy the Congress’s political space in the state through Singh.
“Already, many Congress leaders have joined the BJP. By inducting Captain, a Sikh, the saffron party wants to reflect that it is not only the party of Hindus in Punjab, but enjoys support of the Sikh community as well,” he said.