Sunil Jakhar: Another Congress veteran and former state unit chief of Punjab, Sunil Jakhar, earlier this month resigned from the party and joined the BJP. The former Lok Sabha member, Jakhar was removed from all party posts by the Congress disciplinary committee following allegations of anti-party activities by certain Punjab unit leaders against him. He also lashed out at former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, saying that he was “not an asset” as portrayed by the party leadership. He also lashed out at veteran Congress leader Ambika Soni for her statement on the “repercussions of having a Hindu chief minister in Punjab”. Jakhar also held Soni’s statement as one of the reasons for the Congress’ drubbing in the Punjab assembly polls earlier this year.
RPN Singh: Months ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, former Union Minister and a senior Congress leader RPN Singh resigned from the party and switched his side to BJP. Singh was the Congress’s Jharkhand in charge but had reportedly been pushed to the margins in the party, having fallen out of favour with the Gandhis. As per Congress insiders, he was upset with the party leadership over his close associates being denied party tickets for the Uttar Pradesh polls. After his resignation, RPN Singh had said that the Congress party is no longer what it used to be.
Amarinder Singh: Army veteran and former Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, also left the Congress just ahead of the Punjab Assembly Polls. His resignation came after months of bickering with then Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. He had also levelled serious allegations of involvement in land mining against ex-Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi and some other Congress leaders. “When the Congress chief had told me (over five years ago) to check how Sidhu was, I had said this man is absolutely unfit to be a member of the Congress party. Yet they went ahead and inducted him,” he had said, as quoted by PTI.
