The BJP Friday formally announced that it will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress.
While it made sense for Capt Amarinder Singh to support the Gandhis since none of the 23 'rebels' had any mass base, the truce was important for his ambition to lead the party in the February 2022 state elections. Archis Mohan reports.
Amarinder Singh failed spectacularly in these assembly elections -- his new party failed to open its account, his ally BJP fell flat and he failed to even win his own constituency.
As many as 22 Patiala corporators and Congress leaders joined former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh's new party Punjab Lok Congress at a party event on Friday ahead of the assembly elections next year.
Asking that if all these leaders and actors accompanying the Pakistani journalists are Inter-Services Intelligence's contacts, Singh asserted that he would have invited her again had there been no visa restrictions between India and Pakistan.
Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Friday hit out at the Congress for blaming the anti-incumbency of his four-and-half-years tenure for the poor show in assembly polls, saying the party's leadership will never learn.
Jakhar, who is not an MLA, is believed to be close the top leadership and is considered a prominent Hindu face of the party.
Singh, who had dropped Sidhu from the Punjab government during his tenure as the state's chief minister, never had smooth relations with the cricketer-turned-politician and was against appointing him as the Punjab unit chief of the Congress.
Even as the assembly elections in Punjab are around the corner, Congress MP Preneet Kaur, wife of former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, continues to stay away from poll campaigning in Patiala.
He had along with three other ministers rebelled against Amarinder Singh while choosing to side with the camp of state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Any decision taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi will be acceptable to all, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Saturday as talk of Navjot Singh Sidhu being appointed chief of the party's state unit despite his oft-stated reservations gathered force.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been at loggerheads with the chief minister, attacking him on issues like the alleged delay in the completion of a probe into the 2015 desecration of Sikh texts and the subsequent police firing on protesters.
She praised the chief minister for leading the party to "many victories" and taking Punjab on a "road to progress".
Congress leaders are now in a "wait and watch" mode over the possible ripple effect of Punjab developments in faction-ridden Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states other than Punjab where the party is in power on its own.
He also said he even declined the post of deputy chief minister offered by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to him.
Sidhu and Amarinder Singh have been at loggerheads for the past some time, with the Amritsar (East) MLA recently attacking the CM over the desecration cases.
Rawat had played a crucial role in the removal of Amarinder Singh as chief minister of Punjab, who was replaced by Charanjit Singh Channi.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh met more than 20 party leaders, including ministers, MLAs and MPs at his farmhouse in Mohali's Siswan, sources said. Sidhu, who may be declared the state party chief, met four ministers and at least six MLAs at the residence of Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa in Chandigarh, they said.
Revenge he will exact from a party he had led with great aplomb until the Gandhi siblings stepped in and, in order to show who was the boss, flung him aside, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Amid the ongoing rift in the Punjab Congress unit, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has called a meeting of the state's Congress Legislative Party.
Some media reports claimed he may meet some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Delhi after which Amarinder Singh's media advisor Raveen Thukral sought to clarify the reason for his visit.
"There is a clear hand of the Punjab government in it. Here in Haryana, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other Congress leaders besides some Left leaders are instigating farmers to take law in their hands," Haryana chief minister M L Khattar said
Aam Aadmi Party leader and Ludhiana West MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi has died of gunshot injuries, with police saying on Saturday it could be a case of 'accidental fire' from his own licensed pistol.
After taking charge at the state Congress headquarters, the cricketer-turned-politician said there was no difference between an ordinary worker of the party and its state unit chief.
'People in Punjab put their opinion very strongly there and it looks like they will fight. But, there is nothing like that, and they find solutions to their problems'
The Charanjit Singh Channi-led government in Punjab on Thursday shunted Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan and appointed Anirudh Tewari in her place.
Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has said a probe would be carried out to ascertain whether Aroosa Alam, a Pakistani journalist who has been visiting former chief minister Amarinder Singh for several years, has links with the ISI.
Sidhu and Amarinder Singh has been at loggerheads for the past some time, with the Amritsar (East) MLA recently attacking the CM over the desecration cases.
Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra and Rana Gurjit Singh are likely to be included in the cabinet, according to the sources.
Singh's meeting with Shah on Wednesday had added another dimension in politics in Punjab where no party is being seen as a clear favourite in the polls, expected to be held early next year.
In a letter to Gandhi, Amarinder Singh is learnt to have mentioned that there could be an adverse impact on the party's prospects in the upcoming and crucial 2022 assembly polls by ignoring the old guard and other senior party leaders representing Hindu and Dalit communities, sources said.
There is no threat to the Amarinder Singh-led government in Punjab and the party's victory prospects for the upcoming assembly elections, Rawat said.
"Sidhu could not manage a thing. I know him very well. Don't think that he is some sort of magic word for Punjab. He is going to be a disaster," he said.
After the Opposition, now Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and two MLAs of the party have questioned their government's decision of giving jobs to sons of two legislators and urged Chief Minister Amarinder Sigh to roll back the 'ill-advised' move.
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala claimed that 78 party legislators had sought Singh's ouster in a letter to the central leadership and it was not party president Sonia Gandhi who made him quit.
"Reports of @sherryontop (Sidhu) seeking time to meet @capt_amarinder are totally false. No time has been sought whatsoever. No change in stance... CM won't meet #NavjotSinghSidhu till he publicly apologises for his personally derogatory social media attacks against him," Thukral tweeted.
Amarinder Singh on Monday held the Gandhis totally responsible for the rout of the Congress in the assembly polls, claiming that the party was "comfortably placed" in Punjab before he was unseated as chief minister.
'Feeling claustrophobic and humiliated by the manner in which the Congress vice-president was treating him, he started toying with the idea of floating his own party.'
The Shiromani Akali Dal-Sanyukt will contest on 17 seats.
'Congress will try to use Malerkotla to woo Muslim votes in UP. Muslims across the country have definitely taken note of this move in Punjab. But they vote only for a party that can defeat the BJP. The Congress doesn't seem to be capable of doing that'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances