Captain Amarinder’s launching a party could play spoilsport for the others in the fray
Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has finally “put in his papers” after stepping down from the top post in the State at the behest of the Congress high command in September. And, with that, he also dismissed speculation of backchannel talks with the party, saying the “time for rapprochement is over”. If anything, he seems bent upon ‘punishing’ his old party, the Congress, by entering the electoral arena and pitting his might against the nouveau leader Navjot Singh Sidhu. His seven-page letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi illustrates well his dissatisfaction with the kind of farewell he has been given after almost 40 years of serving the party. The Captain, in his resignation-cum-farewell letter and obviously bitter with the treatment meted to him, called the former Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat “the most dubious individual” and Navjot Singh Sidhu “an unstable man”. Along with his resignation, the 79-year-old former Congress stalwart announced that his new party will be called the “Punjab Lok Congress” (the party is awaiting approval from the Election Commission of India). Now that the pawns are all set, the Captain would seek to settle the scores with Sidhu and the party high command for the “humiliation” that he took as the Chief Minister.
Also, the Captain having a good hold in Punjab, especially in the hinterland, is indeed a bugbear for the Congress. Therefore, picking Navjot Sidhu — who spent 14 years in the BJP — over Amarinder Singh is a questionable move. Besides, the Aam Aadmi Party, led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, is seriously looking to make inroads in Punjab and could be a serious contender for seats in the 117-member House. With the Shiromani Akali Dal having split its association, and affection, with the BJP, both the parties are at a mutual, distinct advantage. The Congress, as it is, is a divided camp and incumbent Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi — despite the high command’s blessings — doesn’t seem to be striking the right notes to pocket seats and retain power in Punjab. Though time is in short supply for the Captain to send a powerful message across to voters, the increasingly vocal notes of dissent between the Congress’s Punjab unit president Sidhu and Channi are unlikely to help the party at the hustings. The Captain, on the other hand, has nothing to lose.