Punjab Elections 2022: Capt Amarinder Singh may play spoilsport for Congress while hinting at BJP alliance
By Deevika N | First Published Nov 21, 2021, 3:57 PM ISTWith the Congress preparing for the 2022 polls, the grand old party has to lock horns with one of the architects of its previous victory who has launched his own party while the other often plays the opposition within.
With the Modi government's move to repeal the three farm laws queering the Punjab election pitch, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is likely to stitch an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the next year's Punjab Assembly elections. Of the five states Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur going for election the largely agrarian state of Punjab will be directly impacted by the move.
This might directly play a spoilsport for Congress that has held fort in Punjab dislodging the Akali-BJP combine, which had ruled the state for a decade. Congress’ victory in two seats particularly stood out -- Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu. In Patiala, in the heart of the state's Malwa region, Captain Amarinder Singh won by a margin of over 52,000 votes, the highest for any candidate. In northern Punjab's Majha, Navjot Singh Sidhu defeated rivals by over 42,000 votes, the second highest margin in the state.
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With the Congress preparing for the 2022 polls, the grand old party has to lock horns with one of the architects of its previous victory who has launched his own party while the other often plays the opposition within. The ruling party has been wary about its own general for decades, Amarinder Singh, upsetting the game plan.
Meanwhile, the former Punjab CM himself told a media channel that a pre-poll alliance between his party and the BJP is likely in the future. “The plan for seat-sharing with BJP will be worked out 110 per cent, and farmers too should join the fight,” he said.
The elections for the 117-member Vidhan Sabha are expected to witness a multi-cornered contest among the ruling Congress, the SAD-BSP alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP. The latest round of ABP-CVoter pre-poll survey showed a neck-and-neck contest between Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress with none of the parties touching the majority mark, the CVoter projection showed. The BJP, however, is projected to win zero seats in the state. Congress is expected to accrue 46 seats, SAD 20, and AAP 51.
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