CHANDIGARH: In a coup of sorts, the BJP in Punjab enriched itself by admitting former state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal into the party. The latest high-profile induction is the fifth in a series of Congress desertions that began with the state Assembly polls in February last year and continued well after the AAP sweep, halting with ex-CM Capt Amarinder Singh’s joining the saffron camp in September last year.
The BJP is perceived to be almost non-existent in the border state (it has two seats in the 117-member Assembly), and it shed whatever it gained in partnership with Badals’ SAD in the two Assembly polls in 2017 and 2012. The parting of ways with the Akalis came with a heavy price for BJP, though both were reduced to the margins in the AAP tsunami in 2022 polls. The Congress had it the worst: it not only suffered a humiliating defeat but also lost a string of leaders mainly to the BJP.
With Manpreet’s entry, the BJP has gained two immediate advantages: it has sought to demonstrate the failure of the much-publicised Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi and, second, it has exposed the chinks in the SAD citadel as Manpreet is the nephew of SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal.
Indications of Manpreet’s consternation with state Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring were visible when he absented himself from Rahul’s yatra as it entered Punjab last week.Manpreet has been the bête-noire of SAD chief and his cousin Sukhbir Singh Badal. In his 27-year political career, BJP is Manpreet’s fourth party of choice. He formed his Punjab People’s Party before entering Congress.