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Former Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh to join BJP today
Chandigarh, September 18
Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh (80) has left for New Delhi, where he will join the BJP in the presence of party president JP Nadda, among other leaders, tomorrow.
Ahead of his joining, the former Congress leader will merge his outfit, the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC), with the saffron party.
Sources say that at least two prominent Hindu Congress leaders, including a former minister, and two former Congress legislators from Malwa are among the 10 leaders expected to join the BJP.
It could not be independently confirmed whether or not these leaders would be joining the BJP in the presence of Capt Amarinder. “Any leader joining the BJP through Capt Amarinder would want an assurance of getting a ticket in the elections,” said a senior leader.
Capt Amarinder’s close associates are keeping mum on the list of leaders who will be joining the BJP with him tomorrow.
Instead of contesting himself, he is likely to demand ticket for members of his family in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and later in the Punjab Assembly polls.
When Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa was contacted for his take on senior Congress leaders accompanying Capt Amarinder
to Delhi tomorrow, he
said: “I can bet that his wife will not be accompanying him to the BJP function. Who else will go with him?”
A former Congress leader said though Capt Amarinder fought the 2022 Assembly elections in alliance with the BJP, former party leaders such as Sunil Jakhar, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora, Harjot Kanwal, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Fateh Jung Bajwa and Gupreet Kangar preferred to join the BJP directly and not through the former CM.
It is yet to be seen whether Capt Amarinder would emerge as the BJP’s Sikh and secular leader from Punjab or it is a ploy to build a narrative that Congress leaders are joining the saffron party.
In Punjab, the BJP has been looking for a strong alliance partner which can emerge as an alternative to the SAD.
10 leaders in tow?
Sources say that at least two prominent Hindu Congress leaders, including a former minister, and two former Congress legislators from Malwa are among the 10 leaders expected to join the BJP.
The road ahead
It remains to be seen how Capt Amarinder Singh will be rehabilitated in the BJP. Sources say the possibility of him being appointed to a political position such as that of the Governor is unlikely to happen soon. His priority will be to secure the political future of his family members in the BJP, besides guiding the saffron party on Punjab affairs.
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