Captain Amarinder Singh’s first stop on Monday on his way to the newly established office of the Punjab Lok Congress was a local gurdwara. The former chief minister sought divine blessings in what will clearly be an existential political battle that he will fight in the days to come.
Although the composition of the party’s top leaders was not yet clear, Amarinder tried to show that he was a man on a mission as he attended the inauguration of the party’s new office.
The former chief minister is trying to woo eminent citizens, farmers and disgruntled leaders from other parties. At first, the affairs of the office would be handled by his son Raninder Singh, though he denied that the latter would contest the upcoming elections.
From operating almost from his palace during the Congress days, the Captain mostly worked in the not-so-swanky office in Sector 9 of Chandigarh. The office is yet to be set up completely and a huge poster of Amarinder with a WhatsApp number for nominations is hanging outside.
Nearly three decades later, Amarinder is gearing up to contest elections on his own after breaking away from the Akalis and forming his SAD (Panthic) in 1992. He failed miserably in that attempt. But observers say this fight is different. “It will literally be a test of his political existence. If he succeeds, he will return with a bang, if he doesn’t, his political career is over. But at this age, he wants to give a signal that there is some fight left in him,’ remarked a Congress leader close to him.
The lack of organizational base for the new organization is something it is trying to demean and, instead, launch an attack on the Channi government from the front. “Total anarchy prevails in the Congress government. They used to tag me with Akalis or others for not handling sacrilege cases properly or for booking Akalis in STF drug report. Those who were raising their voices are in power. Appropriate evidence is needed to take action and not just run a false political narrative”, he remarked while interacting with the media at the inauguration.
Reacting to reports that over 30 Congress MLAs were denied tickets, he said only those who have the potential to win would be welcomed. “Many senior Congress leaders are waiting for the model code of conduct before approaching us,” he said.
Asked whether he expects the alliance to be the chief ministerial candidate, he said: “All alliance partners will decide on the chief minister’s face.”
When asked when he would meet BJP president JP Nadda for seat-sharing talks, he said an alliance has been decided in principle. “Now it is only seat adjustment. For seat adjustments, we will go and I cannot tell you the numbers (seats each party will contest),” he said.
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