Farmers Movement Archive

Eyes on BJP’s plan to play big brother with Punjab's ex-CM Amarinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa

CHANDIGARH: This election, BJP has decided to make the contest multi-corned by forging an alliance with former chief minister Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa of the Sanyukt Akali Dal. While the party is hopeful of the negative sentiment over the now repealed controversial farm laws subsiding, it will be a race against time for Capt Amarinder to put in place an organisational structure in such a short time. It may eventually prompt him to merge his party with the BJP. Also, the PLC has still not been allotted an election symbol by the Election Commission of India (EC) and the former chief minister continues to be its sole prominent face. So far, the BJP has been playing second fiddle to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) but after parting ways with it over the farm laws, it would be the first time that it will contest on a large chunk of the 117 seats. The exact numbers, however, are yet to be worked out by the three parties. While the BJP will bank upon its traditional urban vote, Amarinder will eat into the Congress vote share. Apart from echoing the BJP’s concerns over national security, he has also been highlighting his support for the farmers’ agitation while he was the chief minister last year. For Dhindsa, meanwhile, expanding the party’s presence beyond the Sangrur district will be the key The BJP-PLC-Dhindsa alliance is yet to work out seat sharing and there is also no clarity on the chief ministerial face. But the group could play a crucial role in case of a hung assembly as so far none of the parties seem to have a clear mandate. Justifying the tie-up with BJP and PLC, last week, Dhindsa said the alliance had constituted a six-member committee, with two representatives each from every party, to discuss the alliance candidates. He claimed his party had supported the farmers during their agitation against the farm laws and now they had decided to be part of the alliance with the BJP to address the Panthic issues.

The Times of India

2022-01-09