Capt’s supporters joining BJP could be part of a secret plan

Political circles are agog with speculation considering the three Congress party legislators opting to join the BJP instead of the Punjab Lok Congress, although all of them are considered close to Amarinder Singh.

Ajay Jha | NT

New Delhi: India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is currently on a high in poll-bound Punjab after three lawmakers of the rival Congress party joined it. Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa and Balwinder Singh Laddi joined the party along with some other leaders to give the BJP the much-needed boost just weeks before the Election Commission is slated to formally announce the schedule to hold state legislative assembly elections in five states, including Punjab.

Bajwa and Laddi followed former minister Gurmit Singh Sondhi, a sitting MLA, who had joined the BJP earlier. The Tuesday desertion of the two Congress party MLAs came a day after the BJP announced a pre-poll alliance with the former chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh’s breakaway Punjab Lok Congress party and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) headed by the former federal minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

Political circles are agog with speculation considering the three Congress party legislators opting to join the BJP instead of the Punjab Lok Congress, although all of them are considered close to Amarinder Singh.

Capt. Singh had launched his own party last month after he was asked by the Congress party’s central leadership to quit as the chief minister in September this year because of growing resentment against him by a section of the party, led by Navjot Singh Siddhu. Initially, it was suggested that Capt. might join the BJP, after various rounds of talks with federal minister Amit Shah, Singh decided to float his own political outfit.

The indications are loud and clear that Capt. Singh is actively working towards consolidating and strengthening the BJP in his home state under a secret understanding. The decision of the three Congress MLA to join BJP and bolster its prospects could be part of the understanding reached between Singh and Amit Shah. All his efforts are geared towards this direction only. Singh readily agreed to BJP’s ambitious demand to contest more than half of 117 seats at stake in Punjab although BJP during the 24 years of his association with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) never contested more than 23 seats and has a limited base that is confined to Hindumajority urban seats. The party had been struggling to assemble formidable candidates when it intended to contest all seats of Punjab after the SAD broke ties with it in protest against the now-repealed farm laws last year.

It is clear that BJP needs Capt. Singh more although Singh also needs BJP. Singh had single-handedly won Punjab for the Congress party in 2017 polls, riding on the support of fellow Sikh community voters and farmers. He had taken away BJP’s major worry of lacking a credible face to head its campaigning, which Amarinder Singh is expected to do now. His hold over Sikhs and farmers remain intact, while Dhindsa is expected to lure the hardliner Sikh community voters.

Capt. Singh is all scheduled to address a rally at Ferozepur on January 5 where more leaders and leaders of other parties, especially the Congress party, are expected to join the BJP.

It is being said that under the understanding, Singh was asked to float his party to ensure that Sikh voters, who were angry with the BJP over the farm laws, end up voting for the alliance which might not have happened if Singh had opted to join the BJP. There are suggestions that in the event of the alliance coming to power, Singh would become the chief minister and subsequently merge his party with the BJP. And that explains why he is not going all out in establishing his Punjab Lok Congress and indirectly strengthening the BJP, which had won just three seats in the 2017 polls as a junior ally of SAD.