Sonia Gandhi – Lalu Prasad for Smoothening Strained Ties, Amarinder Singh to Tie-up with BJP

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Oct 27: Even as the Congress national president Sonia Gandhi initiated steps to ease the party’s strained relations with one of its oldest allies the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar, her former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh extended a supporting hand to the BJP promising a seat-sharing with the saffron party by his proposed new political party to defeat the Congress in the coming Assembly elections.

“Yes, I am forming the party. I don’t know what its name will be. Let’s wait for the elections commission which will decide the symbol. My lawyers are working on it,” Captain Amarinder Singh said.  “Once the party is announced, we will fight on all 117 seats…There will be plenty of Congressmen coming here,” Singh said.

Announcing the formation of a new political party as soon as the Election Commission of India cleared its name and symbol, Singh in his maiden press conference since he quit as the chief minister last month, claimed that a “large number of Congressmen including many of the sitting members of the State Assembly” were eagerly waiting for the formation of his party to cross over. At the press conference, Singh was only accompanied by his close aides and none of the leaders of other political parties joined him.

In Bihar, the former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who appeared on a political platform after a gap of six years which he spent either in jail or in hospitals following his arrest in connection with the fodder scam, teared into the BJP-led central government and the BJP-supported Nitish Kumar government in the state. He also attacked the Congress which he said hardly existed in Bihar prompting Sonia Gandhi to call him up to smoothen up the relations for future tie-ups and opposition get-together to defeat the BJP.

At his press conference, Amarinder Singh said he would be forming his own political party months before the Assembly elections. “We will have a seat-sharing with the BJP. I have not said we will be allying with BJP.” he said.

Claiming that several Congress members were in touch with him, Singh said he would launch his new party as soon as the Election Commission cleared the name and the symbol.

“Our lawyers are working on it and they are in touch with the Election Commission. As soon as the Election Commission clears the name and symbol, I’ll share it. Many people from the Congress party are in touch with me and they will come out in the open when the time comes. I promise you one thing: that we will contest all 117 Assembly seats. Whether we fight in alliance or whether we fight on our own, time will tell,” he told reporters.

“Plenty of Congressmen are coming in. We are waiting for the opportune moment. But I will not take their names. Already, my supporters are being harassed,” he said. Asked how many MLAs were in touch with him, he quipped: “If Rahul Gandhi needs to have back-to-back meetings with Punjab Congress MLAs, what does it mean?”

He rejected the Congress’s claims that a majority of the MLAs opposed his continuation in office and said, “Once they [party leadership] made up their mind to replace me, all these excuses are being made.” Pointing out that the so-called 18-point agenda of the Congress for his government was nothing but part of the Punjab 2017 manifesto, he said the ‘Kharge committee’ was clearly told that 92% of all the poll promises had been fulfilled.

Taking on his detractors, particularly State party president Navjot Singh Sidhu and State Home Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa, Capt. Amarinder accused them for indulging in petty issues.

“We will fight and defeat Sidhu from wherever he contests the upcoming Assembly polls,” he said, adding that since the former had taken over the Punjab Congress reins, there had been a 25% drop in the party’s popularity, as per his survey.

Slamming the Punjab government over its repeated denial of any serious security concerns, Capt. Amarinder said there was something very wrong and dangerous happening at the borders, which the state could ill-afford to ignore. He refuted allegations that the Border Security Force (BSF) would take over the State’s administration or would be deployed in Golden Temple etc, and said such misconceptions were being spread by certain people to score brownie points in the run-up to the Assembly elections. “The BSF is here for helping maintain national security as we are a border state,” he said, calling for full support by the state to the Centre in the interest of national security. He added that he would soon lead a non-political delegation of agricultural experts to meet the Union Home Minister to discuss possible solutions to the ongoing farmers’ agitation.

He said he had no intention of aligning with the Shiromani Akali Dal but only with breakaway Akali groups. Asked about the reported refusal of Dhindsa to tie up with him, Capt. Amarinder said, “If Dhindsa has to put up a real fight, he will have to concentrate his forces too.”

“To defeat the Congress, the SAD and AAP, we will all have to work as a joint force,” he added.

Lalu Prasad, who was addressing a largely-attended by-election rally for the Tarapur Assembly seat, slammed the NDA Government at the Centre and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over unemployment and lack of development in the country and Bihar. The RJD chief was addressing a public meeting for the first time since the 2015 Assembly poll.

“I missed two elections: 2019 Lok Sabha and 2020 Assembly polls,” Prasad noted. Bypolls for the Tarapur and Kusheshwarsthan seats are scheduled to take place on October 30. The results will be announced on November 2.

Attacking the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Prasad said the Central government had been selling every public enterprise. “No work has been done in Bihar also. Only unemployment is around”, said Prasad, amid loud cheers from the crowd comprising mostly young people.

Prasad, however, did not touch upon his party’s sour relations with the Congress. The Congress too has put up candidates for both seats, declaring “there is no mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar.” In his eight-minute address, Prasad appealed to people to unite. “We all should unite to vote,” he said.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi soon after her meeting of the Congress’s state chiefs, in which the party’s problems in various states was reportedly discussed threadbare on Tuesday, dialled Lalu Yadav amid signs that the RJD leader considers his long-time ally a dead weight in Bihar, especially with the approaching by-polls becoming a flashpoint between the parties.

Yadav held up a giant red flag for the opposition alliance on Monday as he publicly dissed a Congress leader and questioned what good the alliance had done for his party. Lalu Yadav was asked whether the RJD’s alliance with the Congress was over. “Kya hota hai Congress ka gathbandhan (of what use is an alliance with the Congress),” snapped the former Bihar Chief Minister. In the Assembly elections last year, the RJD despite giving a remarkable performance the opposition Mahagatbandhan fell short of a majority allowing the BJP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) to return to power. In post-mortems many allies blamed the Congress, which won only 19 of 40 seats in its share.

Though state Congress leaders are furious with the RJD leader, Sonia Gandhi wants to smooth things over with one of the party’s oldest allies, say sources. Sonia Gandhi and Lalu Yadav have always shared good ties; in 2004, when the Congress came to power, the RJD chief strongly supported Sonia Gandhi for the post of Prime Minister in the midst of a chorus against an Italy-born PM.