Two Akali MLAs join Congress; Amarinder says met Sidhu

New Delhi, Dec 6: As two legislators from Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal joined the Congress on Tuesday, Congress state unit chief Amarinder Singh said cricketer-turned-politician vjot Singh Sidhu met him and “gave an impression he is inclined to support our party”.

The two Akali members of the state assembly (MLAs) who joined the Congress are Rajinder Kaur Bhagike from Nihal Singh Wala and Mahesh Inder Singh from Baghapura.

Amarinder Singh, a former Chief Minister, said the party’s list of candidates for the 2017 assembly elections will be filsed by December 8, and announced on December 9 or 10.

“I met him (Sidhu). I can tell that much. I hope he’ll very soon make an announcement about what he wishes to do. I found him in a very positive frame of mind. I hope it’ll be a positive decision,” Amarinder Singh said, without revealing when the meeting took place.

“The impression I got, without any commitment from his side, is that he is inclined towards supporting us. I can’t tell you about his joining,” he said.

Amarinder Singh said Sidhu told him his family had supported the Congress in the past and that his father was a district Congress President and remained an Advocate General during the Congress rule in the state. Asked what does the former cricketer want from the Congress, Amarinder said: “He doesn’t want anything. He just has to make up his mind on whether he would like to carry on with what he is doing or whether he wants to come...”

“...no assurance from his side, but certainly I feel the way he was talking, he would like to campaign for the Congress or work for the Congress. But this he has to announce himself,” he added.

On whether Sidhu will contest the Amritsar Lok Sabha by-poll, Amarinder Singh said: “That will be the Congress president’s decision. I don’t think vjot is interested. It’s for him to say, but I don’t think he is interested.” vjot Singh Sidhu had earlier represented Amritsar constituency in the Lok Sabha. Amarinder Singh won the seat in the 2014 general elections by defeating the present Union Fince Minister Arun Jaitley, but resigned from the Lok Sabha membership on November 11 in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict on a Presidential Reference on the Sutlej-Yamu Link Cal.

vjot Singh Sidhu’s wife vjot Kaur Sidhu, who represented Amritsar East constituency in the Punjab assembly and is a former Chief Parliamentary Secretary, joined the Congress on November 28 along with Akali Dal’s Jalandhar Cantt legislator Pargat Singh. (IANS)

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