NEW DELHI: Desperate to stall any splintering in the Congress, the party leadership is awaiting Captain Amarinder Singh’s return from London on Wednesday night to convince him not to desert the ship. What made the party nervous are reports emanating from BJP’s headquarters that he had a secret rendezvous with Amit Shah. This is in addition to reports that he has a new political outfit — Punjab People’s Vikas Party — registered with the Election Commission.
AICC in-charge of Punjab Shakeel Ahmed has been issuing frenetic statements indicating that the Congress “is ready” to go to any extent “to accommodate” the Captain with the PCC chief’s post.
The party leadership even got his bête noire, incumbent Punjab Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa, to say that he will accept the Captain as the leader —“anything that helps the party win the next elections’’ — in Punjab where the party is pitted against the ruling Akali-BJP combine.
Sources in the Punjab Congress claim “the Captain is waiting for the Bihar elections to get over to announce his decision and not wait till next year’’. However, there has been no confirmation of this from the Captain.
As the Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha, his prolonged absence from Parliament has made news.
He has also openly expressed his not-so-charitable views on Rahul Gandhi’s yet-to-mature leadership.