Agencies
Chandigarh, June 05:
Amarinder Singh, whose exit from the Congress was one of the biggest developments that Punjab saw last year ahead of the state elections, on Saturday took a swipe at his former party for not being able to retain four leaders that are now in the BJP. Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Sunder Sham Arora – all of them former state ministers – switched from the Congress to the BJP on Saturday.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg!” warned Captain Singh. “My best wishes to Balbir S. Sidhu, Gurpreet S. Kangar, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Sunder Sham Arora and Kewal Singh Dhillon for taking a step in the right direction and joining @BJP4India today,” he wrote on Twitter. All the four leaders are believed to be close to Amarinder Singh, who had fought the Punjab elections with the BJP after leaving his party of decades.
Former Congress MLA from Barnala Kewal Singh Dhillon and former Shiromani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh were among others who joined the BJP in presence of union home minister Amit Shah.
This was just weeks after Punjab ex Congress chief Sunil Jakhar had an acrimonious exit from the grand old party while a mega conclave was on in Rajasthan’s Udaipur where the Gandhis – along with other leaders – were chalking out a plan for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Later, Jakhar too joined the BJP. The party, however, is still gaining footprint in the state, where farmers’ movement over minimum support price has been in the discourse for quite some time.
“The Congress should see why such experienced leaders and workers are leaving the party. If they can’t pledge their allegiance to the country and remove the drawbacks of the party, they might even lose the status of being an Opposition,” Jakhar was quoted.
