Jagmeet Singh Brar is likely to join hands with Arvind Kejriwal's AAP ahead of Punjab elections.
Highlights
- AAP besieged by allegations of wrongdoing in selecting candidates
- Punjab votes next year, AAP taking on BJP, Akalis and Congress
- Jagmeet Singh Brar, expelled by Congress, to ally with AAP
For Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab has recently offered little more than behavioural problems within his Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, with its members accused of corruption and exploiting women ahead of elections.
But after days of providing scandals, AAP shared some good news later today - a new alliance, allegedly orchestrated by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Jagmeet Singh Brar, a former senior leader of the Congress, that he will contest the election as a candidate of AAP, though he is not yet joining Mr Kejriwal's party. Details of how many seats could be assigned to his supporters are yet to be worked out.
The match was reportedly made by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who knows Mr Brar well from her days in the Congress. Like Mr Kejriwal, he attended her swearing-in this year when she was re-elected with a massive mandate.
Mr Brar, 57, was expelled from the Congress in April for criticizing Captain Amarinder Singh, who is the party's presumptive Chief Minister in Punjab. Before that, he had criticized the Gandhis for the Congress' seismic defeat in the general election, a stand both risky and virtually unheard of in a party wedded unquestioningly to its first family.
In recent months, Mr Brar's public meetings have drawn large audiences. His stronghold is the Malwa region in the south, but he has a robust network of volunteers and is believed to have made a strong connect with lakhs of unemployed young men while blaming the ruling Akali-BJP alliance of failing to provide jobs or alleviate a raging drug addiction problem. In 1999, he defeated Suhbir Singh Badal, currently the Deputy Chief Minister, in the parliamentary election from Faridkot.
Till a few weeks ago, the Aam Aadmi Party's brand in Punjab was seen as high-value, largely because of the time and effort expended by Mr Kejriwal in frequent visits to the state, where he won a surprise four seats in the last general election. But then, late in August, the party removed its Punjab chief, Suchcha Singh Chhotepur after a sting that allegedly revealed him selling a constituency to an AAP candidate. He was replaced by Sanjay Singh. This week, an AAP legislator, Devinder Sehrawat, has said party leaders are "exploiting women" who want to run for election in Punjab.
With every sign that his party is self-destructing in a state where it was seen as having the advantage over traditional parties, Mr Kejriwal has said that after a throat surgery in Bengaluru, he will head to Punjab to supervise election efforts including the selection of candidates.