With Assembly elections due within a year in the crucial State of Punjab, Congress on Friday went into election mode and indicated its old warhorse Capt Amarinder Singh will be its chief ministerial candidate. The party also received a boost with Manpreet Singh Badal, estranged nephew of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, merging his Punjab People’s Party (PPP) with the Congress.
Manpreet, who was the state Finance Minister in 2010, quit the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) after differences cropped up between him and his uncle Parkash Singh Badal and cousin and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
“The face of the Congress campaign will be Capt Amarinder Singh,” senior leader and party’s campaign committee chief Ambika Soni said. Amarinder Singh, his predecessor Pratap Singh Bajwa and Punjab ClP leader Charanjit Singh Channi were present at the AICC briefing.
Asked specifically whether Singh is the CM candidate, she said, “How can I say this thing nowIJ You draw your own conclusion.”
Amarinder, who is Punjab Congress chief, said that Congress had lost the last Assembly elections in 2012 by a 0.8 per cent vote share while PPP had got 5 per cent of the votes. “Had we come together, we could have saved Punjab,” he said.
Amarinder was chief minister of the state from 2002 to 2007. Congress lost two consecutive assembly elections in Punjab to Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine. He, however, steered clear of questions as to what were the other like-minded parties with whom he was in talks.
On the merger of his PPP with Congress, Manpreet said his party had decided to merge with Congress as it was felt that they “needed to do more than be mere sentinels on the sidelines”. He said that he was also approached by AAP but “they do not have a blueprint to turn around Punjab”. The Congress platform is “bigger, better and more experienced”, he added.
He further said that party vice president Rahul Gandhi had come across as a sensitive and well-meaning leader who was eager to understand the issues of Punjab. He said that Congress has accepted PPP’s 11-point agenda, including on the matter of putting an end to VIP, VVIP culture and eliminating nepotism and favouritism in Government functioning.
The agenda also speaks of “ending the stranglehold” of a few individuals and families on the State’s natural resources and combating the drug menace as top priorities.
Replying to questions, Amarinder Singh made a scathing attack on Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP, dubbing it as “totally inexperienced” and warning that Punjab will “not get back on its feet if AAP comes to power after 10 years of total ruination by SAD-BJP”.
Singh also claimed that Kejriwal was trying to become Chief Minister of Punjab. He also ridiculed the AAP leader’s poll promises, saying they showed his inexperienced. He also said that with the merger of PPP, his party would now work towards bringing all secular like-minded parties together under “some sort of alliance” to defeat the Akalis and BJP.