We are 101 per cent sure of winning this election, says Amarinder

We are 101 per cent sure of winning this election, says Amarinder

We are 101 per cent sure of winning this election, says Amarinder

Ending the suspense over their much-anticipated coming together for the assembly elections in Punjab, former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, on Friday, announced a tie-up with the BJP for the upcoming polls. The saffron party too confirmed that it would have an electoral partnership with the veteran leader.

A formal announcement of the alliance was made by Amarinder after he met union minister and BJP's Punjab in-charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in the national capital. “We are ready...we are going to win this election. Decision on seat sharing will be made on a seat-to-seat basis. Winnability will be given priority. We are 101 per cent sure of winning this election,” the former chief minister said.

Shekhawat said after seven rounds of talks, today he is in a position to confirm that the BJP and Amarinder's newly formed outfit, the Punjab Lok Congress, will fight the elections together.

The alliance will be the fourth key player in the elections that are set to be a multi-cornered contest. The other important players in the fray are the Congress, the Akali-BSP combine and the Aam Aadmi Party.

Amarinder, who was forced by his party to step down as chief minister in September, had maintained that his party would have a seat-sharing arrangement while the BJP was more guarded in its utterances on the issue. He had linked the tie-up with the repeal of the three contentious farm laws.

The veteran leader and the BJP need each other to put up a respectable fight in the coming state polls. The BJP, which had become an untouchable in the state politics on account of the farm laws, can now hope to at least get an entry into the electoral fray as the laws have been repealed. The presence of Amarinder as an ally will allow the BJP to flaunt a Sikh leader who, despite his unpopularity, continues to be the tallest political figure in the state.

The octogenarian Amarinder, on the other hand, needs the BJP to ensure that he has the resources and the manpower to run an election campaign. It is believed that Amarinder, who has always been on the same page as the BJP on the issue of nationalism, would be hoping to win over Hindu votes in urban centres.

While he is expected to play the part of a spoiler in the elections, it is not clear if he will end up damaging the Congress' prospects or harm the party's rivals by splitting the votes veering away from it.

The BJP, which has been a junior partner of the Akali Dal in the state so far, in its alliance with Amarinder is expected to want to be the senior partner and contest a greater number of seats.

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