AAP has swept the Punjab Assembly polls. With the landmark victory of AAP, came the defeat not only for Congress but other prominent leaders in Punjab too. Charanjit Singh Channi faced a humiliating defeat and Navjot Singh Sidhu too lost from the high-profile constituency of Amritsar East . However, there’s one more political leader who is currently the talk of the town despite losing from his constituency. He is Capt. Amarinder Singh, the former Chief Minister of Punjab.
Amarinder Singh defeated from Patiala
Amarinder Singh had resigned last year from the Congress party in the aftermath of humiliation. His newly formed party Punjab Lok Congress has allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this assembly election.
The former CM had contested from Patiala Urban constituency. However, he lost by nearly 20,000 vote to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Ajit Pal Singh Kohli who won the seat. His party reportedly had to sit empty handed as it could not win even a single seat.
Read More : With a cabinet overhaul, Captain Amarinder plans to show Sidhu who the boss in Punjab really is
Amarinder lost the elections but won the war
From the above result, one might assume that it is the end of road for Amarinder Singh and he has lost the war of power. However, Is that it? Well, Capt Amarinder might have been defeated but his arch-nemesis Navjot Singh Sidhu has lost from his Amritsar seat too. Meanwhile, the Congress is in disarray. With the humiliating defeat in Punjab, its electoral story in that state is all but over. The party is in no position to stage a comeback in Punjab any longer.
Notably, Amarinder, for the nationalist person he is, never wanted Sidhu to become the Chief Minister of Punjab. Sidhu, had been eyeing CM’s chair for a long time. Given Sidhu’s friendly connection with Pakistani PM Imran Khan and Punjab being a border state, Amarinder was concerned about the security of Punjab and India as well. This led to multiple tussles and infights within the party.
On the contrary, the high command wanted to retain Sidhu as he is a yes-nod man unlike Amarinder for whom Punjab is the priority. Thus, the aged-old party sidelined Capt Amarinder to retain a no-performing asset like Sidhu.
Amarinder, in retaliation, resigned from the party and kept warning about how dangerous Sidhu can be for Punjab. He also allied with BJP in order to seek revenge from the Congress party. Even if Capt Amarinder has lost from his constituency , he would be more than satisfied that Sidhu is no more in the power and Congress party, too, has been thrown out of power by the people of Punjab.
Moreover, the speculations of Amarinder Singh to become the governor of Punjab have set the political market abuzz. Aditya Raj Kaul, a journalist, tweeted, “Captain Amrinder Singh as New Punjab Governor?” He added, “Although personally I am highly doubtful. Captain could be however given another key position.” After all, in politics, anything is possible.