Chandigarh, January 07: Upset over being denied a Congress ticket for the Jan 30 state assembly polls, Malwinder Singh, the younger brother of Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh, Saturday quit the party and joined the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal.
Malwinder Singh, who openly opposed the Congress allotting a poll ticket for the Samana assembly seat to Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh, was welcomed into the Akali Dal fold by its president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the deputy chief minister.
“The (Congress) party has done great injustice to me despite my working for the party interests,” Malwinder Singh, who like his brother belongs to the erstwhile Patiala royal family, said here.
Malwinder, who has never contested an election before, is the president of the Chandigarh Golf Club.
Sukhbir Badal said that Malwinder’s joining the Akali Dal would strengthen the party further.
He added that Malwinder’s joining the Akali Dal was like a “nuclear bomb”.
“This reflects one thing, that old and loyal workers were not having any say in the affairs of the Congress party as reputed leaders were treated worse than beggars during the last few days prior to distribution of tickets. Money bag and sycophancy culture is totally prevalent in the Congress,” Badal said.
Both Badal and Malwinder said that no decision had been taken on whether the latter will be fielded in the polls.
Earlier, Malwinder had threatened to contest from Samana as an independent, but also said he was keeping his options open.
He also said that his elder brother (Amarinder) could not be blamed for his not getting the Congress ticket.
“I don’t think that he (Amarinder) had a role in this. My ‘bhabhi’ (sister-in-law) is the one responsible for this situation. I had spoken to her last week but she was adamant on getting the Congress ticket for Raninder,” an upset Malwinder Singh said.
Malwinder also blamed Gulchain Singh Charak, who is in charge of the Congress affairs in Punjab, for the denial of the poll ticket to him.
“This man (Charak) has no standing in Jammu from where he comes and has no political understanding (of Punjab). He contested an election in Jammu once and even lost his security deposit. Such people have been put in charge of Congress affairs in Punjab,” he said.
The Congress is facing rebels at some three dozen of the 117 assembly seats in the state.
However, the Congress right now is hugely dependent on the Trinamool for the survival of the UPA at the centre.
“The Trinamool on their own strength has fought the Left in the West Bengal and has come to power. I can still go alone and fight alone. Nobody can win by conspiring against us,” said Banerjee.
She said the Congress was afraid of the Trinamool after her decision to fight in elections in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur. “That is why they are so much worried. Nobody can undermine us by carrying on with such dirty political games.”
Asked about the Trinamool chief’s remarks that the Congress was scared of her party, Singhvi at the Delhi presser said: “There is no question of the 125-year-old all-India party being scared of anyone or any political challenge.”
After Banerjee’s outburst, the West Bengal state Congress retorted that they were not bound to follow her orders and would continue in the ministry.
State Congress president Pradip Bhattacharjee said: “We will stay in the ministry, we are not going to leave it. We are there because of the blessings of the common man. We are not bound to follow her orders and fulfil her wishes as we are not her subjects.”
“Congress is not afraid of anybody. It doesn’t make any sense that we will leave the ministry if she wants,” said Bhattacharjee.
The escalating war between the coalition partners that has threatened the UPA was triggered after the West Bengal government’s proposal to rename a building named after late prime minister Indira Gandhi. The Congress has vehemently opposed the idea to rename the Kolkata-based Indira Bhavan – where Gandhi stayed in 1972 – after revolutionary poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
The BJP, meanwhile, said the doors were open for Banerjee to join the National Democratic Alliance. “The UPA 2 has been very arrogant. The fact is that the Congress can neither have a healthy relationship with the opposition nor with allies,” BJP leader Balbir Punj told reporters, adding “NDA doors were open” for anybody.