Is leaderless Punjab Congress missing someone like Captain Amarinder Singh?

New Delhi: The Congress in Punjab is both leaderless and rudderless, and also appears to be in a state of confusion after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) joined the opposition alliance INDIA to unitedly take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress is the main opposition party in Punjab and is in a direct fight with the ruling AAP.

Punjab Congress leaders, including state unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, have opposed any tie-up with the AAP.

But the central leadership is very keen to keep the INDIA alliance intact to ensure a one-to-one contest with the BJP on a majority of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.

Since the onus of keeping the opposition grouping united is completely on the Congress, the grand old party after initial dilly-dallying finally accepted the AAP's demand to vote against the Centre's ordinance on Delhi when the bill was tabled in Parliament for its passage.

The Congress has become very weak in Punjab after the AAP decimated it in the 2022 assembly elections. Many of its leaders, including former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and ex-state president Sunil Jakhar, have deserted to the BJP.

After the drubbing in the assembly elections, the Congress also lost the Lok Sabha by-polls in Sangrur and Jalandhar, which was its traditional bastion for decades.

While Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann, a former IPS officer who had resigned in protest against Operation Bluestar in 1984, wrested the Sangrur parliamentary seat from the AAP - the constituency was represented by chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann -- Arvind Kejriwal's party won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-poll, comprehensively defeating the Congress.

The Sangrur by-election last year, barely two months after the Punjab assembly polls, gave first signs of a weakened Congress as it lost the security deposit despite huge anger against the AAP government following singer Sidhu Moosewala's murder.

In March this year, the Congress failed to hold on to the Jalandhar parliament seat, held by it for the past 25 years. It failed to lead even in a single assembly segment despite having five sitting legislators in the region.

Having lost the plot with its house in disarray, the Punjab Congress clearly seems to be missing someone like Captain Amarinder Singh who could keep the party united despite intense factionalism when he was at his peak.

Ironically, Captain Amarinder Singh has been rendered irrelevant in Punjab politics and is now largely at the mercy of the BJP for his political survival. He has lost all that charisma and shine due to his advanced age. The scion of the Patiala royal family badly lost the 2022 assembly elections from his stronghold. It is also a fact that Captain Amarinder Singh won big whenever he was with Congress. The former chief minister failed to make any mark whenever he fought alone or as a part of another party.

With the desertion of Captain Amarinder Singh and others, the BJP in Punjab looks like an extension of the grand old party given that its former president Sunil Jakhar now heads the saffron party in the border state. He is often seen surrounded by Congress turncoats.

Unless the Congress gets someone like Captain Amarinder Singh, its revival seems a tough task in Punjab. In fact, his return will also not be of much help to Congress.