Punjab polls: Capt Amarinder Singh to meet top BJP brass today to discuss seat-sharing

Taking forward the Punjab Lok Congress-BJP alliance, ex-CM Capt Amarinder Singh is set to visit New Delhi on Thursday and meet top BJP leaders. Sources state that the ex-CM will hold seat-sharing talks with BJP for the upcoming Punjab polls. The northern state, along with Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur will go to polls in February 2022.

Capt Amarinder to meet BJP leaders

Last week, former Congress spokesperson Prince Khullar joined Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress, citing infighting in the Congress. Similarly,  Punjab unit spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal tendered his resignation citing it 'hard to defend Sidhu's nonsense'. Highlighting that Congress was in a strong position to be re-elected in Punjab, he said that Capt Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar would have made that happen.  Sources close to Captain have also revealed that more disgruntled Congress leaders at the state and central level could join the Punjab Lok Congress.

Amarinder Singh quits Congress

Formally resigning from Congress on November 2, Singh wrote a scathing 7-page letter to party president Sonia Gandhi explaining the rationale behind his decision. Recalling his political journey, he asserted that the Congress government fulfilled 92% of the 2017 election manifesto promises during his tenure as the CM. He also 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'.

Later, Singh announced that he will fight from Patiala seat in the 2022 assembly elections. “I will fight elections from Patiala only. Patiala has been with us for the last 400 years and I will not leave it for the sake of (Navjot) Sidhu".  The Patiala assembly seat has been the family bastion of the former chief minister. He had represented the seat four times -- 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017. Amarinder had resigned as MLA in 2014 after being elected from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat and his wife Preneet Kaur has represented the seat for three years. She is yet to resign from Congress.

Navjot Singh Sidhu and his supporters rebelled against then-CM Capt Amarinder Singh moving the High Command claiming the party's 18-point agenda was not being fulfilled. After many rounds of talks, Congress High Command picked Sidhu as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, inspite of the CM's vehement opposition. Later, blindsided by the CLP meeting called without his knowledge, 79-year-old Capt Amarinder Singh tendered his resignation from the Punjab CM post and later quit Congress. He was replaced by 58-year-old Dalit leader and Sidhu aide Charanjit Singh Channi.