On Saturday (November 20), former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced that he would contest the State Assembly polls from his 400-year-old family bastion of Patiala. The Punjab polls are expected to be held in April next year.
A Facebook post by ‘Punjab Da Captain’ page quoted the former Congress leader as saying, “Main patiala se hi chunav ladunga. Patiala 400 saal se hamare saath raha hai aur main sidhu ki khatir unhein chodne wala nahi hun (I will contest the polls from Patiala alone. (The constituency ) has been with us for over 400 years now. I am not going to desert it for Navjot Singh Sidhu.)”
By making a direct reference to 400 years, Captain Amarinder Singh had invoked the legacy of his royal family. He had won the 2017 Punjab elections from Patiala by a whopping 52,407 votes. Singh had represented the constituency on 4 different occasions while his wife was an MLA from the same constituency between 2014 and 2017.
Following a long-standing feud with Navjot Singh Sidhu and miffed by the support extended to Sidhu by the Gandhi family, Captain Amarinder Singh had earlier tendered his resignation as the Chief Minister of Punjab on September 18 this year. He then quit the Congress party on November 2nd and laid the foundation of his new party named ‘Punjab Lok Congress.’ Singh had earlier hinted at the possibility of forging an alliance with the BJP, if the farm laws were repealed. Given that the Modi government had rolled back the farm reforms, it is possible that Amarinder Singh might join hands with the saffron party.
