Former Punjab CM, army veteran and heir of the Patiala Royal family Amarinder Singh joined the BJP today along with his son and daughter, nearly a year after he quit the Congress following his abrupt quit as Chief Minister before the Punjab assembly elections. He was welcomed to the BJP by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju. Earlier in the day, he had met with BJP chief JP Nadda.
Post joining the BJP, Singh merged his Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the BJP.
The development came days after Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
Former deputy chief speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti, former MLA former Mehal Kalan MLA Harchand Kaur, former Garshankar MLA Love Kumar Goldy, former Ludhiana MP Amrik Singh Ahliwal and former MLA Harjinder Singh Thekedar and former Mansa MLA Prem Mittal also joined the BJP along with the Captain. Bhatti was an MLA twice – first time from Bhucho and the second time from Malout constituencies.
Goldy, Thekedar and Mittal were already in the PLC, whereas the Congress had expelled Bhatti and Harchand Kaur for anti-party activities.
The Captain’s son Raninder Singh and his daughter Jai Inder Kaur also joined the BJP, while his wife Praneet Kaur, who is a Congress MP from Patiala, was not present at the media briefing.
After his meeting with Shah on September 12, Singh said he held a very productive discussion on various issues related to national security, rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the state’s overall holistic development.
