Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh to join BJP next week

Captain Amarinder Singh, a former chief minister of Punjab, will join the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday. Pritpal Singh Baliawal, a PLC spokesperson, claims that Amarinder Singh will likely combine the PLC with the BJP on September 19 in the nation's capital.

 

— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) September 12, 2022

Days have passed since Singh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's meeting in Delhi. "Had a very productive meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah Ji. Discussed various issues pertaining to National security, the rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the overall holistic development of Punjab," Singh had tweeted.

He had floated the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister. Singh (80) will join the BJP in the presence of party president JP Nadda and other leaders in Delhi.

Seven former MLAs and one former MP, who joined the PLC, will be among those to follow Singh on Monday, PLC spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal told PTI over phone. Other office bearers and district presidents of the PLC will join the BJP in a separate event in Chandigarh next week, Baliawal added.

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Amarinder Singh fought the Punjab Assembly elections in coalition with the BJP before severing ties with the Congress. Amarinder, a former Congress veteran, left the grand old party in the November of last year, one and a half months after the Congress leadership replaced him as the chief minister with Charanjit Singh Channi following his prolonged dispute with the state party's then leader Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Channi, however, lost both of the seats he ran for, and the Congress was soundly defeated in the February elections for the Assembly. The PLC ran for office in coalition with the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is led by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (Sanyuk). However, none of its candidates were successful in winning, and Singh himself was defeated on his own turf in Patiala Urban.

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(With inputs from PTI)