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Former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh to join BJP today

Amarinder Singh’s meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on September 12 was being seen as the BJP’s final move to get Singh and his newly-floated party on board. He will also merge his newly-formed Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the saffron party.

Capt Amarinder Singh to join BJP today likely to merge his Punjab Lok Congress gcw
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First Published Sep 19, 2022, 8:58 AM IST

Captain Amarinder Singh, the two-time former chief minister of Punjab, will join the BJP on Monday in the presence of Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda at 4.30 pm in Delhi. He will also merge his newly-formed Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the saffron party. According to party spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal, seven former MLAs and one former MP who joined the PLC would also be joining the saffron party. He also said additional PLC officers and district presidents would also join the BJP at a separate Chandigarh ceremony.

Singh, who just got back from recovering from spinal surgery in London, established the PLC last year after leaving the Congress after his abrupt resignation as chief minister. He even formed an alliance with the BJP in Punjab to contest in the Punjabi assembly elections.

A few days ago, Singh met with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Singh said that his meeting with Shah on September 12 resulted in a very fruitful conversation about a range of topics, including the increased incidence of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the state's future development strategy.

Singh left Congress last year, few months ahead of the Punjab assembly elections after he fell out with then Punjab Congress president Navjyot Singh Sidhu. Singh’s infighting with Sidhu reached a pinnacle when the latter had summoned a legislative party meeting on September 18, 2021, keeping the then Punjab CM Singh in the dark.

In a damning 7-page resignation letter addressed to interim party chief Sonia Gandhi, Singh wrote that he was “deeply hurt” by the conduct of Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka, terming the CLP meeting a “midnight conspiracy” called with “the intention to belittle and humiliate this self respecting old solider.”

Soon after leaving the party, the 80-year-old Singh floated his own party and fought the Punjab elections in alliance with BJP and SAD (Dhindsa). However, the PLC scored a duck in its maiden election with Singh losing the Patiala Urban seat in the election that was swept by the Aam Aadmi Party.

The two-time former chief minister is the scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family.

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