Amarinder Singhs new party to be a united front, may ally with BJP

Amarinder Singh,
former Punjab chief minister and veteran Congressman, has decided to float an
independent political unit ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections due to be
held next year. Singh, who was with the Congress for decades before being
pushed out of the chief minister’s post, is likely to ally with the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) in the assembly polls.

“We have many
leaders with us, it’ll be revealed who is with us once the party is announced,”
Amarinder Singh said at a press conference on Wednesday. The former Punjab CM further
said that his party will contest all 117 seats in the upcoming elections. He
added that he has already applied for a name and a symbol to the Election Commission.

Asked what his new
political outfit will be called, Amarinder Singh said, “We are waiting for the
opportune moment.” Singh also alleged that his supporters in Patiala are being
harassed. Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s meetings with a section of Punjab MLAs
earlier in the day, Amarinder Singh said that Gandhi was having to meet so many
Punjab leaders was indicative of the kind of support he has garnered.   

On questions about
allying with the BJP, especially at a time when farmers of Punjab are on the
frontline of protests against the Centre’s agriculture laws, Amarinder said that
his party will provide “issue-based” support to the BJP and try to work around
a seat-sharing arrangement if the ongoing farmers’ protest was resolved in
their interest.

Amarinder Singh also
laid down the ideological underpinnings his to-be-formed party will follow when
he said that he seeks to align with like-minded parties to create a “united
front” that will take on the Akalis, Aam Admi Party and Congress. He reiterated
that he has no intention of aligning with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the
upcoming elections but said that he might align with breakaway groups from the
party.