Just per week after he resigned as Punjab chief minister, Congress veteran Captain Amarinder Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah within the nationwide capital on Wednesday, fueling hypothesis concerning the assembly and his subsequent steps.
“Met Union Home Minister @AmitShah ji in Delhi. Discussed the long-running farmers’ agitation in opposition to #FarmLaws and urged them to repeal the legal guidelines and resolve the disaster instantly with assured MSP, aside from supporting Punjab in diversification of crops,” Singh stated. tweeted after an hour-long assembly at Shah’s residence.
While there have been stories that Singh might also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there was no official affirmation.
Sources stated Singh, requested to step down by the excessive command after a fierce battle inside the state unit wherein he discovered himself remoted, might also meet some “G23” of the Congress – 23 senior Congressmen – on Thursday. The group of leaders who wrote to the celebration president Sonia Gandhi had demanded an overhaul a 12 months in the past.
The BJP can also be stated to be eager to incorporate Singh earlier than the Punjab Assembly elections subsequent 12 months. But any political dialog appears to be centered round controversial agricultural legal guidelines – a difficulty that the BJP is going through opposition from a big part of the farming neighborhood in Punjab.
For now, though he has publicly criticized the Congress, Singh stays with the celebration. BJP sources stated that whereas the celebration is determined to discover a center floor on the problem of agricultural legal guidelines, each the celebration and the federal government have made it clear that there isn’t any query of repeal of the legal guidelines. Sources stated that on this situation, the BJP hopes that Singh will assist finish the deadlock.
However, reiterating Singh’s demand for repeal of the legal guidelines on Wednesday signifies that the 2 sides haven’t reached any conclusion on the contours of any doable engagement. According to sources in Punjab, Singh sought authorized opinion on the problem of agricultural legal guidelines earlier than his assembly with Shah.
In an interview to The Indian Express final February, Singh had stated that the deadlock was to finish on the “negotiating table”, and that some farmer leaders (withholding the legal guidelines) “agreed” to “18 months”, But it might go as much as 24 months.”
While Singh has remained silent on the query of becoming a member of the BJP, sources stated that he has been in contact with outstanding BJP leaders from Punjab for a number of months now. On Tuesday too, his workforce had stated that Singh was within the nationwide capital on a “personal visit”, and dismissed hypothesis that he would meet senior BJP leaders.
For the BJP, even when Singh has misplaced the assist of its MLAs and is going through an anti-incumbency wave, will probably be an enormous political achieve if he joins the celebration. It will discover a Sikh chief – BJP nonetheless doesn’t have a reputable Sikh political face. With meeting elections due in a number of states together with Punjab subsequent 12 months, if Singh quits the Congress, the BJP may even rating a serious political victory, particularly in states akin to Uttarakhand, Goa, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh the place each events are pitted in opposition to . one another.
A BJP chief stated, “Like (Assam Chief Minister) Himanta Biswa Sarma, Amarinder’s attack against the Gandhi family will be beneficial to the BJP during the election campaign.”
“But the Captain is but to point out his playing cards, as he needs to get readability on the celebration’s stand on agricultural legal guidelines, which he had opposed earlier. He can’t take a stand until there’s readability on it.’ However, he stated the BJP was optimistic a few constructive end result. He stated, ‘Otherwise he wouldn’t have met Shah like this.
While resigning from the publish of Chief Minister on September 18, Singh had stated that each one choices had been open. “There is always an option, and I will exercise that option when the time comes… For the time being, I am still in Congress,” he had stated. Stating that “people come and go in politics”, Singh had stated, “I have been in politics for 52 years and I will be in politics. I have resigned today but options never close in politics.”
Interestingly, Ajay Veer Jakhar, former chairman of Punjab Farmers’ Commission and president of Bharat Krishak Samaj, had tweeted on Tuesday: “In my judgment, Govt. In principle already decided to withdraw 3 agriculture laws/settlement to the satisfaction of farm unions but issue as legal MSP remains. After so much crisis and loss of trust, hopefully better understanding remains on both sides of the fence.” Jakhar resigned because the chairman of the Punjab Farmers Commission after Singh resigned from the publish of Chief Minister.
– With inputs from Kanchan Vasdev, Chandigarh
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
