Captain Amrinder: What is Known
Captain Amarinder Singh, a former chief minister and the leader of the Punjab Lok Congress, is all ready to join the BJP in New Delhi the next week. Singh will also combine the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC), his recently founded party, with the BJP.
Captain Amarinder Singh, 80, a former chief minister of Punjab who underwent spinal surgery in London, visited Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week.
Captain Amrinder Stepped down from Congress
Amarinder, a former Congress veteran, left the grand old party in the first half of November of last year, one and a half months after the Congress leadership replaced him as the chief minister with Charanjit Singh Channi following his protracted dispute with the state party’s then leader Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Upon leaving Congress
Amarinder established the PLC prior to the February 20 Punjab Assembly elections after leaving the Congress. It ran for office in coalition with the BJP and the SAD (Sanyukt). The BJP ran for 65 seats under their seat-sharing agreement, the PLC for 37 (with some candidates electing to run under the BJP emblem), and the SAD (Sanyukt) for 15 seats.
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Polling results for a newly formed party
In the polls, every PLC candidate came in dead last, including Amarinder, who lost from his stronghold of Patiala. The SAD (Sanyukt), led by former Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. Failed to gain any seats, whereas the BJP succeeded in winning two. The elections were won by the Aam Aadmi Party, decimating the Congress.
After Amarinder’s operation on June 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi phoned to check on his health. He further explained that, “It was merely a call to ask how Captain Sahib was doing.
BJP’s Confirmation of the Merger
The merger of the PLC and the BJP had already been planned before Amarinder left for London, according to BJP national executive member Harjit Grewal, who had previously spoken to The Indian Express.
