Punjab Elections 2022 | Ex-CM Amarinder Singh will run from stronghold Patiala
Amarinder Singh, who led the Congress to a two-third majority victory in the 2017 elections, resigned as chief minister in September after a fierce intraparty fight with Congress' Punjab unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Captain Amarinder Singh, the former Punjab chief minister, will run in the forthcoming assembly elections from Patiala, his family’s stronghold.
“I’ll be running from Patiala. Patiala has been with us for 400 years, and I will not abandon it because of Sidhu “Singh made the announcement on his Facebook page, targeting his opponent and Punjab unit president of the Congress, Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Singh recalled the legacy of his royal family, which controlled the erstwhile princely state of Patiala when he said “400 years.” He defeated BJP’s General (retd) JJ Singh by more than 60,000 votes in the previous assembly elections.
In his political career, Singh has represented Patiala four times in the state legislature, while his wife served as an MLA from the constituency for three years between 2014 and 2017.
Singh made the declaration three weeks after formally resigning from Congress, ending a two-decade connection with the party.
After a fierce intra-party battle with Sidhu, the 80-year-old political veteran, who led the Congress to a two-thirds majority victory in the 2017 elections, resigned as chief minister in September.
Singh then announced his intention to leave the Congress and form his own political party, the Punjab Lok Congress.
Singh had previously stated that the new party, whose application for registration has been forwarded to the Election Commission, will form alliances with Akali groups and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Punjab Lok Congress’s entry, which is expected to formalize its alliance with the BJP, has turned the next assembly elections into a four-cornered fight.
Aside from the Captain’s anticipated alliance with the BJP, the ruling Congress is up against perennial foe Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which has allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is the main opposition party in the current assembly.
The 117-seat Punjab assembly, in particular, will be voted on in early 2022. While the Election Commission has yet to declare the dates, the elections are scheduled to take place in January or February.
