Congress leader Pritpal Singh Baliwal joins Captain Amarinder Singh’s party

Ahead of the 2022 Punjab assembly polls, Pritpal Singh Baliawal, who resigned from the Congress, joined former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s party Punjab Lok Congress on Wednesday.

Senior media panellist of the state Congress unit on Monday had resigned from the party stating that the command of the Punjab unit of the party is in the “wrong hand”. In his resignation letter to interim chief of Congress Sonia Gandhi, Baliawal said that as a spokesperson it has become very hard for him to defend the “nonsense, anti-party and anti-government remarks and statements on ties to Pakistan”.

This comes after Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Navjot Singh Sidhu had called for trade talks with Pakistan stating that India-Pakistan friendship will increase trade.

Elections to 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly are scheduled to be held next year. In 2017 Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years. Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured three seats.