Will Captain Amarinder Singh succeed in splitting Congress to build his party in Punjab?

The beleaguered Congress in Punjab is now fraught with the prospect of its MLAs likely to align with rebel former Punjab CM Capt. Amarinder Singh, who has announced he will be forming a new party for the coming elections just months away.

Captain maintains many of the party MLAs were in touch with him and they would come out openly in support for him at an appropriate time. Alarmed over the ‘imminent’ crisis, Congress central leadership is ensuring it keeps its flock of disgruntled MLAs together. As the developments unfold, Rahul Gandhi has been meeting some of the Congress MLAs in New Delhi. 

Captain, when asked how many MLAs were in touch with him had quipped, "If Rahul Gandhi needs to have back-to-back meetings with Punjab Congress MLAs, what does it mean?”

Read | Channi meets Rahul Gandhi after Amarinder Singh's announcement on floating his own political party

Amarinder Singh needs MLAs on his side to stay in the reckoning in the elections. He has also maintained he would try to forge an alliance with breakaway factions of the Akali Dal. For Singh, this election will determine the traction he commands, having served almost two terms as chief minister. 

Congress leaders in Punjab, especially party chief Navjot Sidhu and cabinet minister SS Randhawa, have been attacking Amarinder Singh even on personal issues. As the Congress versus Congress fight gets murkier and real issues grappling Punjab take a back seat in the melee, Capt’s Pakistani friend Aroosa Alam hogs newspaper columns with Randhawa and others raking up the issue in public domain. Sidhu has termed Capt a ‘spent cartilage.’

Also Read | Will launch party once EC clears name, symbol: Amarinder Singh

But all this unsavory war of words may not augur well with the new Congress dispensation in place in Punjab after the Captain's unceremonious exit. He has so far refrained from any personal attack on Congress leaders. Amarinder’s seat-sharing agreement with the BJP, which as it is does not enjoy much political groundswell in this border state, will itself be a challenge. BJP which earlier would fight only 23 seats in Punjab as an ally of the Akali Dal (its former ally), has now said it would fight all the 117 assembly seats.

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