Ex-CM Amarinder Singh to play key role in BJP's Punjab unit; inducted into core committee

Three days after being made a member of BJP's National Executive, Captain Amarinder Singh was inducted into the core committee of the party's Punjab unit. This appointment was preceded by consultations between Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma and party chief JP Nadda. Apart from Singh, other Congress-turned-BJP leaders such as Sunil Jakhar, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi and Fatehjang Singh Bajwa also found a place in this committee. Meanwhile, Jakhar will also be a part of the Punjab BJP's Finance Committee. 

Amarinder Singh's journey from Congress to BJP

Amid the infighting between Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu, the situation escalated after Congress summoned a Legislative Party meeting at 5 pm on September 18, 2021, without keeping the Punjab CM in the loop. Amid growing speculation that Singh will be ousted, the latter tendered his resignation to Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit at about 4.30 pm on the same day owing to "humiliation". Speaking exclusively to Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Singh asserted that he would remain active in politics. 

Formally resigning from Congress on November 2, 2021, Singh wrote a scathing 7-page letter to party president Sonia Gandhi explaining the rationale behind his decision. He took umbrage at the "midnight conspiracy" carried out by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra whereby a Congress Legislative Party meeting was called without keeping him in the loop. On this occasion, he also announced that his new party will be called 'Punjab Lok Congress'. 

While PLC formed an alliance with SAD(Dhindsa) and BJP for the state Assembly polls, it failed to win a single seat with Singh himself suffering a shock defeat in Patiala Urban. After failing to make an impact with PLC, Singh reduced his political activities since the formation of the AAP government. On September 19, he merged his party with BJP and was formally welcomed into the party fold by Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Narendra Singh Tomar. 

Weighing in on his move to switch allegiance from Congress to BJP, Amarinder Singh told Republic TV, "Today, it (Congress) is entirely in the hands of the two young children, Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi, and their advisors are Chaudhary and Venugopal. I've never heard of a party being headed like this. Now I have come here and had only two to three meetings with the BJP. It is a different scenario, a different ball game. They are all serious people working from morning till late night."