New Delhi: Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday (June 4, 2022) took a swipe at Congress for not being able to retain five leaders that are now in the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and called the move a "tip of the iceberg". Five Congress leaders Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora, Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Kewal Dhillon joined the BJP.


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"My best wishes to Balbir S. Sidhu, Gurpreet S. Kangar, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Sunder Sham Arora and Kewal Singh Dhillon for taking a step in the right direction and joining BJP today. This is just the tip of the iceberg," Amarinder Singh said in a tweet.



The Congress was voted out of power in the Punjab elections earlier this year and Amarinder Singh’s exit from the Congress was one of the most prominent developments that Punjab saw last year ahead of the assembly elections in the state. Singh left Congress to form his own party just months before the assembly elections in Punjab and had held the Gandhis responsible for the rout of the party in the assembly elections. 


BJP has become a dustbin for Congress's dustbin: Raghav Chadha 


Meanwhile, AAP leader Raghav Chadha also reacted to the development and said that “Punjab Congress’s trash joins BJP”. The AAP leader in a tweet took a jibe at the saffron party and said, “BJP has become a dustbin for all of Congress’s trash.”



Gurpreet Kangar, who is also a three-time MLA from Rampura Phul, was the Revenue Minister in the previous Congress government, while Balbir Sidhu, a three-time MLA from Mohali, was the Health Minister. Sunder Sham Arora, a former MLA from Hoshiarpur, was the Industry and Commerce Minister in Congress government. Raj Kumar Verka is a prominent Dalit leader from Majha region, while Kewal Dhillon was a MLA from Barnala.


Good that opportunists have left, says Punjab Congress chief 


Reacting to the development, Punjab Congress chief Warring said all those leaders who deserted the party and joined the BJP had “betrayed” the Congress “like an ungrateful son deserts his mother”.


"Scared, they apparently wanted safe, secure political asylum, somewhere and the BJP provided it", Warring said.


“They owe their current stature, that qualified them for the new political asylum to Indian National Congress, which groomed them like a mother grooms her children”, he said.


“And when it was their turn to reciprocate, they betrayed their mother for greener, nay, saffron pastures”, he alleged.


The PCC president said while the loss of any leader or a worker is felt by the party, at the same time it leads to more openings and opportunities for the loyal and fresh blood whose progress otherwise gets blocked.


Warring said, “best of luck for joining the BJP, grateful that the elite who enjoyed all the privileges in the party have vacated the space for younger leadership from common background”.


He pointed out that many of the leaders who deserted the party had got all the privileges, with their sons and brothers occupying all prestigious and powerful positions at the cost of other loyal and hardworking leaders and workers.


Alleging that these leaders were gripped by some fear for reasons “not publicly unknown”, he said, “hope you all now feel safe and secure in your new saffron pastures as you were obsessively stressed and scared for the reasons best known to you and not publicly unknown, either.” 


(With agency inputs)