Manpreet’s PPP merges with Cong

Saturday, 16/01/2016

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NEW DELHI: Nearly five years after floating the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP), Manpreet Singh Badal on Friday announced an “unconditional” merger of his party with the Congress in a bid to give a tough fight to both the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2017 assembly polls.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi with Manpreet Singh Badal, who formally joined the party, in New Delhi on Friday.

Coinciding with the merger that was given shape during Manpreet’s detailed meeting — his third in the past six months — with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the party also projected Amarinder as its face for the 2017 elections.

“We are happy that the PPP, under Manpreet, has merged with the Congress,” announced party general secretary Shakeel Ahmad in the presence of Punjab unit chief Captain Amarinder Singh, his predecessor Partap Singh Bajwa and senior leader Ambika Soni, among others.

Welcoming Manpreet into the party fold, Amarinder said the Congress had lost the 2012 assembly elections by a 0.8% vote share, while the PPP secured 5.04% votes. “Had we come together, we could have saved Punjab,” he said.

“We are very happy. Manpreet has merged his party with us... Hope we will be able to forge a strong alliance for the elections,” he said, adding that Manpreet had a pan-Punjab image and his party was present in all districts.

Manpreet had launched the PPP in March 2011 after he was expelled from the SAD in 2010 following differences with his cousin and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

In the 2012 assembly elections, he lost from both Gidderbaha and Maur constituencies. Contesting from Bathinda on the Congress symbol in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he had lost to SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal by a thin margin.

Speaking on the occasion, Manpreet said the Congress had accepted his 11-point agenda, including putting an end to VIP culture and eliminating nepotism and favouritism in government functioning, apart from ending the stranglehold of a few individuals and families on the state’s natural resources and combating the drug menace.

“Without any pre-conditions to this alliance, I and my PPP workers will not take any position or responsibility in the Congress until we win hearts of every Congress worker,” he said.

Manpreet said he was also approached by the Aam Aadmi Party but insisted that the new party did not have a “blueprint to turn around” Punjab. “The Congress platform is bigger, better and more experienced,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress again projected Amarinder as the party’s face for the 2017 polls. Rahul had in 2012 broken the party tradition by naming him as the CM candidate, but the Congress failed to win the polls. The Congress usually does not name a CM candidate ahead of the polls.

“The face of the Congress campaign will be Captain Amarinder Singh,” said Soni, who is the party’s campaign committee chief. Asked specifically whether Amarinder was the CM candidate, she said, “How can I say this thing now? You draw your own conclusion.”