Last week, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh raised many eyebrows and curiosity in political circles with his disclosure about his exchange of messages with Rahul Gandhi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader sounded almost nostalgic as he revealed that Rahul wished him on his birthday and also sent a message to condole his brother’s death—something no BJP leader did.
That appreciation came as a surprise, as Rahul was instrumental in Amarinder’s resignation as the CM in September 2021 and his exit from the Congress a few weeks later.
A couple of days before this disclosure, Amarinder had publicly disapproved the BJP’s choice of ex-Congressman and another Jat Sikh leader Kewal Singh Dhillon as its Punjab unit chief.
Complaining that the party didn’t even bother to seek his advice, Singh questioned Dhillon’s abilities.
The BJP’s message behind choosing a Jatt Sikh as its face in Punjab just months before the election wasn’t lost on Amarinder.
As talks of Amarinder’s uneasiness gained ground, Union Home Minister and BJP’s chief trouble-shooter Amit Shah called Amarinder to his Delhi residence.
The two hugged each other in front of the shutterbugs to convey a sense of ‘all is well’.
Nevertheless, the former Punjab CM may find himself in the same boat that his former colleague, the late S.M.
Krishna, landed in before retiring from politics in 2023.
After almost 50 years in the Congress, Krishna joined the BJP in 2017.
The former Karnataka CM was 84 then, the same age as Amarinder now.
