Former Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh joins BJP, says will prove useful in Haryana, Himachal too

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 19

Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today joined the BJP in the presence of Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Kiren Rijiju, merging his Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the saffron party. “Now is the time to do something for the country. We have seen the Congress, it is now time to join a party that has done so much for the country and its security. It’s a pleasure being here,” he said.

Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh, whom BJP’s media in-charge Anil Baluni addressed as “yuvraj”, and daughter Jai Inder Kaur too joined the party along with supporters BIS Chahal, former Deputy Speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti, former MP Amrik Singh Aliwal, former MLAs Harchand Kaur, Harjinder Singh Thekedar and Prem Mittal and labour leader Kewal Singh.

The absence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda at the event raised many an eyebrow. Asked whether his wife Preneet Kaur, a Congress MP, would also join the BJP, he quipped: “Is it a must for the wife to do whatever the husband does?”

Given that Agriculture Minister Tomar was the one who welcomed him into the BJP fold, Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa tweeted: “The man who was instrumental in framing the three farm laws and is most hated by farmers of Punjab is given the duty to welcome Amarinder into the party. What signal does the BJP want to send out?”

Amarinder Singh (80) floated the PLC last year after quitting the Congress following his removal as CM but his party failed to win any seat in the Assembly polls. He himself lost from his home turf Patiala.

On whether he supported the completion of the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, he said he would continue to fight for Punjab. “We are hemmed in by two borders and two hostile nations. It is our duty to protect our home state. If we don’t do it, then we are not doing our duty towards the nation,” he said, adding that the BJP was doing a lot to strengthen the nation’s security.

“Drones would earlier intrude up to 7 km of our boundary, now it’s up to 42 km. These bring weapons, narcotics and counterfeit notes. The objective is to create chaos in the border state,” he claimed. Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah and Nadda, he said he was certain he and his loyalists would prove useful to the BJP in HP and Haryana too. Praising Amarinder Singh, Tomar said he always put the nation first. The BJP is banking on Amarinder Singh to meet its objective of forming a government in Punjab, say observers.

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