Political equations bound to change as Captain Amarinder Singh keeps ‘all options open’

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 18

The exit of Capt Amarinder Singh as Punjab chief minister could pose a fresh set of challenges to the Congress and the border state, already on the edge after the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Moments after Singh resigned citing "humiliation by the party", a senior Congressman said the development should be seen as a pause in the 52 year long political career of the former soldier and not as a full stop. Singh later himself said he was not one to retreat and was not hanging his boots yet.

If the outgoing CM’s “all options are open” remark translates into a new political outfit or an overture, Punjab’s political equations in 2022 elections could vastly change leading to a multi cornered contest.

Nationally, while the BJP remains in wait and watch mode over Capt’s moves, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah today rued Congress’ inability to retain Singh and keep its Punjab house in order.

"I guess it’s too much to expect the Congress to take the fight to the BJP when its state leaders are too busy fighting amongst themselves. Ordinarily I wouldn’t give a toss about the fratricide in the Congress party - their party, their business. However, what the Congress does has a direct fallout for every political party outside the NDA orbit because almost 200 Lok Sabha seats see a direct BJP and Congress fight," Abdullah said signaling national consequences of the exit of Singh, who defeated BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley with a margin of over one lakh votes from Amritsar in 2014 LS polls and led the Congress to a landslide in 2017 state elections, defying the Narendra Modi wave on both the occasions.

“Humiliating someone like Amarinder Singh will have consequences for the Congress not just in Punjab but nationally and internally. Today for the first time we saw an outgoing CM defy Congress’ convention of authorizing the party president to decide on the CLP leader. He did not even attend which should worry Sonia Gandhi,” said a veteran Congress leader.

The Tribune has reliably learnt that Singh has received feelers from a section of G 23 leaders who have been seeking internal reform in the Congress.

As G 23 mull their future course, Singh could add value to the camp being a mass leader and could provide the group a foothold in electoral politics starting with Punjab in 2022, a source said.

Politics apart, the outgoing CM today flagged concerns about Punjab’s border security noting that Pakistan has been sending in weapons and drugs through drones.

Only recently Singh met Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue.

After resigning today, Singh cited concerns over Punjab’s security – an issue that will remain relevant considering a new CM would take time to settle down and also to get space off from raging internal factionalism in Punjab Congress which is far from over.

Capt has resigned as CM, but not from the party, which means his shadow will loom.

“The new CM would have an onerous task ahead of him of hitting the ground running, managing farmers’ agitation and Congress infighting,” said a Congress leader.

As the party mulls Singh’s replacement, many insiders are watching with curiosity as to what Singh’s parting comments today could mean. “I am a soldier. When someone shoots one bullet, we shoot 50 back,” the outgoing CM said today.

Party in a fix

• State’s political equations in the 2022 polls could change if the outgoing CM’s “all options are open” remark translates into a new outfit
• The new CM will get little time to settle down and manage various party factions
• Captain, it is learnt, has got feelers from a section of G23 leaders, who have reportedly been seeking internal reforms