Stressing on all the like-minded parties across country to get together ahead the 2019 lok Sabha elections, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday made it clear that alliance with any party, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was a call to be taken by the Congress high command.
At the same time, Capt Amarinder backed the party chief Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate of the joint opposition alliance in the ensuing parliamentary elections.
Reiterating his earlier stand, Capt Amarinder said that Rahul was fully competent to lead the country and will surely prove to be a successful Prime Minister. “The Congress should explore all alliance possibilities for next year’s parliamentary elections and Rahul should lead the joint front of the opposition parties to boot the divisive BJP-led NDA out of power,” he said while speaking to the mediapersons on the sidelines of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) session.
He said that alliances for the lok Sabha polls would be worked out by the party at the national level, with the state units following suit. “The alignments will have to happen at the national level. Whatever they decide will apply to the states,” he said, adding that “the alliances will be dependent on the central leadership, and wherever it takes us, we will go.”
Asked if this meant he was open to an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which the Congress had routed in Punjab, Capt Amarinder told the journalists to refrain from trying to put words in his mouth.
Capt Amarinder Singh said that he supported the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who told the CWC that the Congress would have to enter broad-based alliances to win the 2019 elections. “I endorse what Chidambaram has said…I think he said a very good thing – that we should bring as many people in the Opposition together as possible,” he added.
All the like-minded parties who wanted to restore India’s glorious secular and harmonious character should get together in their collective interest, and more importantly in the interest of the country, said Capt Amarinder.
To a question on the people’s mood in Punjab ahead of the lok Sbaha polls, the Chief Minister said that it was entirely in favour of the Congress.
Pointing out that the Congress had won Gurdaspur parliamentary bypoll and Shahkot assembly bypoll with record margins in recent months, he expressed the confidence that the party would win hands down in the parliamentary elections next year.
“I have promised them (the high command) Punjab, and will give it to them,” he said, adding that he had also told them that “if you want to use us elsewhere too, we are there.”
Replying to another question, he said that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was their main opponent in the state.
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Welcoming the appointment of Prof Raj Kumar of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) as the vice chancellor of Chandigarh’s Panjab University, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday said that it was a very good move as “BHU is an outstanding institution”.
“It’s very good. BHU is an outstanding institution,” said Capt Amarinder adding that it was good to have eminent academicians from outside the state to head important institutions.
He said that there was no harm in bringing the new vice chancellor of Panjab University in Chandigarh from the Benaras Hindu University. “Top academicians can be from any state and there is nothing wrong in appointing them to universities in the other states,” he added.
Prof Raj Kumar, whose appointment as PU’s vice-chancellor was announced a day before, was the Dean and Head of the Institute of Management Studies, BHU.