‘Patiala with us for the last 400 years…’: Amarinder Singh to fight Punjab polls from stronghold

Amarinder, who named his political party as the Punjab Lok Congress, is hoping for a seat arrangement with the BJP for the upcoming elections.

Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has announced that he will contest the upcoming state assembly elections from the Patiala constituency. “I will fight elections from Patiala only. Patiala has been with us for the last 400 years and I will not leave it for the sake of (Navjot) Sidhu,” he posted on his ‘Punjab Da Captain’ Facebook page on Saturday.

Patiala has been a stronghold for Captain’s family as the former Punjab CM has won the seat four times and his wife Preneet Kaur represented it for three years from 2014 to 2017. Singh’s father Maharaja Sir Yadavinder Singh was the last Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala.

Amarinder resigned as the Punjab chief minister in September amid a bitter power tussle with Sidhu. Charanjit Singh Channi had replaced Amarinder Singh. After his unceremonious exit from the state government, Amarinder had said that he would pit a strong candidate against Sidhu in the 2022 assembly polls to ensure his defeat.

Recent poll-poll surveys have predicted a neck-and-neck fight between the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party while the BJP could be left struggling to open its account.