Ex-Congress leader, ex-Punjab CM Amarinder Singh to join BJP

Chandigarh: Former Punjab chief minister Cap. Amarinder Singh, who left Congress last year, will join BJP next week. The announcement was made on Friday by his party, Punjab Lok Congress (PLC), which he had formed after leaving Congress, PTI reported.

Amarinder will also merge PLC with the BJP, the party announced.

Singh will be welcomed into BJP in the presence of BJP president JP Nadda and other leaders in Delhi.

According to PLC spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal, seven former MLAs and a former MP, who joined PLC, will follow Singh to BJP. He added that other office bearers and district presidents of the PLC would join the saffron party in a separate event in Chandigarh.

Amarinder Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Home Minister Amit Shah after he returned from London after finishing a spinal surgery.

Post the meeting with Shah, Singh had said that their discussion was productive, which included national security and rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab. Both also talked about the future roadmap for the overall holistic development of Punjab.

In July, Senior BJP leader Harjit Singh revealed Amarinder Singh's intentions to join BJP.

Singh, the scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family, quit Congress after he was replaced Charanjit Singh Channi as CM of the state last year.

However, in the last Assembly elections, Channi lost both seats he contested. Also, PLC contested in alliance with the BJP and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyuk) but couldn't register a single win. Singh also lost in his home constituency, Patiala Urban.