After a dismal streak, Punjab Congress gets a booster by ‘homecoming’ of BJP, SAD leaders

The eight leaders whose “homecoming” to the Congress took place Friday include former ministers, Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Sidhu and Gurpreet Kangar, who had switched to the BJPafter the 2022 polls, which saw the grand old party’s tally plunge to just 18 in the 117-member Assembly. The incumbent CM Charanjit Singh Channi also lost the two seats he contested from (Chamkaur Sahib seat and Bhadaur) to the AAP candidates. The Congress had clinched the 2017 polls by winning 77 seats.

Other leaders as part of this “Ghar Wapsi (homecoming)” — as the Congress is calling it — are former minister Hansraj Josan, ex-MLAs Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu and Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, former Mohali mayor Amarjit Singh and Karanvir Dhillon.

A senior Congress leader said this was a “signifiant development” for the party cadre.

Former Congress minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, the working president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), said the return of these leaders will be helpful for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He said these leaders could “read the pulse of masses”.

Another senior Congress leader charged that some of these leaders were being allegedly targeted with vigilance cases by the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP regime. At present, Kangar and Balbir Singh Sidhu are facing disproportionate asset cases and have undergone multiple rounds of questioning

by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.

Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, a former MLA from Talwandi Sabo, said he had “no plans to come back to the party” but made the move after the Akali Dal expelled him on October 11 on charges of anti-party activities. The SAD said that the decision to suspend Sidhu was taken following a complaint from the local leadership from the Talwandi Sabo constituency.

“Sukhbir Badal (SAD chief) never spoke to me once. I have never done anything against SAD but their charges hurt me. So, I decided to quit. If this remains the way, people will keep on quitting Akali Dal,” he claimed.

Hans Raj Josan said he had joined the SAD in 2021 due to his issues with the then PPCC chief

Sunil Jakhar, the current BJP president, and Amarinder Singh. With both Sunil and Amarinder now with the BJP, Josan said that going back to his parent party would be the “right decision”.

It is another matter that within the BJP too, there seems to be some “resentment” among its old-timers over the ex-Congress leaders like Jakhar being at the helm, sources in the saffron party said.

The leaders from the BJP and the Akali Dal, however, said that these exits would not “matter” to them.

Anil Sarin, the Punjab BJP general secretary, said, “All the leaders who join our party were given due respect and importance. Balbir Sidhu was the vice president of the Punjab unit. Verka is a core committee member. Gurpreet Singh Kangar was made secretary of BJP Punjab…They need to be asked why they are returning in one year.”

Sikander Singh Maluka, the chairman of the SAD’s disciplinary committee, said it was “time to learn lessons on not giving temporary leaders importance”.

For the ruling AAP, the development makes little difference as it said that these leaders had been “rejected by people”. “Some of these leaders had joined the BJP to save themselves from corruption cases, but the Bhagwant Mann government will not spare anyone. They must have got this larger message as well,” Malwinder Singh Kang, chief spokesperson of the AAP said.