Days after quitting the Congress party by claiming that the party’s state unit’s leadership has been “put in the wrong hands”, its national coordinator and spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal on Wednesday joined Punjab’s former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s new outfit — Punjab Lok Congress.
Baliwal, who had openly offered his support to Capt Amarinder in his resignation letter to Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi, had minced no words to say that for him as a party spokesperson, it has become very hard to defend the “nonsense, anti-party and anti-government remarks and statements on ties to Pakistan”.
His assertions came after Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Navjot Singh Sidhu had called for trade talks with Pakistan stating that India-Pakistan friendship will increase trade.
Notably, Baliwal held the positions of national coordinator, in-charge of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh Kisan Congress, and senior media panellist within the party.
In his resignation letter to the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi, Baliwal had written, “We were in strong capacity to form the government in 2022 under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh and Sunil Kumar Jakhar but you decided to choose Mr Sidhu”.
“Although Mr Charanjit Channi is doing a good job, but daily tweets by him [Sidhu] are shrinking the party's image...For 15 years, I honoured the responsibilities given to me by the party...I have decided to resign from all the responsibilities,” Baliawal had stated in his letter.
Pritpal Singh Baliawal is not the only Congress leader who has bid adieu to the party in the recent past. On Friday, Patiala Urban Youth Congress chief along with his supporters resigned from the party, citing ‘step-motherly treatment’ in the Congress.
Capt Amarinder’s wife and Lok Sabha MP from Patiala Preneet Kaur had also announced her support for her husband in the upcoming election.
Notably, Capt Amarinder had inaugurated Punjab Lok Congress’ office in Chandigarh’s Sector 9 on Monday.