CHANDIGARH, Oct 14: Senior BJP leader and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday rubbished media reports that claimed he had knowledge about some leaders leaving the party and rejoining the Congress.
Reacting to the reports that also suggested the desertions were planned at his place, Singh said these reports are not only baseless but malicious, and were being deliberately circulated to create confusion.
His reaction came a day after senior Punjab BJP leaders Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu and Gurpreet Kangar decided to return to the Congress. Some leaders from the Shiromani Akali Dal are also expected to follow suit.
Verka, Sidhu and Kangar were ministers in the previous Congress dispensation before switching to the BJP in June last year.
In a statement, Singh made it clear that his decision to join the BJP was well thought and irreversible.
He had joined the BJP on September 19 last year by merging his Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with it. Singh had floated the PLC in 2021 after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister, but his party failed to win any seat in the state assembly polls.
Singh said he was committed to the BJP and whatever role and duty Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda assign him.
The two-time chief minister said he had only left the Congress once earlier on the issue of principle as he was strongly opposed to Operation Bluestar in which the then government sent the army into Darbar Sahib.
He said it has been his principle in life to never go back on his decision. “Once I take a decision, I stand firm about it”, he asserted.
Singh said there was no question of any second thoughts or letting anyone leave the party, leave aside facilitating it, as has been reported baselessly
and maliciously. (PTI)
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