Ex-Punjab CM Amarinder Singh to join BJP next week

Former chief minister and Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh will join the Bharatiya Janata Party next week, a party spokesperson said on Friday.

Singh will also merge his newly formed party with the BJP.

He had floated the Punjab Lok Congress last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister.

Singh (80) will join the BJP in the presence of party president JP Nadda and other leaders in Delhi.

Seven former MLAs and one former MP, who joined the PLC, will be among those to follow Singh on Monday, PLC spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal told PTI over phone.

Other office bearers and district presidents of the PLC will join the BJP in a separate event in Chandigarh next week, Baliawal added.

Singh, who recently returned from London following a spinal surgery, has met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the past fortnight.

After his meeting with Shah on September 12, Singh said he held a very productive discussion on various issues related to national security, rising cases of narco-terrorism in Punjab and the future roadmap for the state's overall holistic development.

Singh had conveyed his intention to merge his party with the BJP before departing for London, senior Punjab BJP leader Harjit Singh Grewal had said in July.

The former chief minister would announce the merger upon his return, Grewal had said at the time.

The two-time former chief minister is the scion of the erstwhile Patiala royal family.

He quit the Congress after being replaced by Charanjit Singh Channi last year.

However, the Congress was routed in the assembly polls in February with Channi losing both the seats he contested.

The PLC contested the elections in alliance with the BJP and the Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyuk). However, none of its candidates could register a win, with Singh himself losing from his home turf of Patiala Urban.