Just the tip of iceberg: Captain’s cryptic tweet after 5 Punjab Cong leaders join BJP

Soon after five Congress leaders joined the BJP, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh posted a cryptic tweet, saying that it was just the “tip of the iceberg.”

On Saturday, Congress leaders Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, and Sunder Sham, all former ministers in Singh’s cabinet joined BJP.

“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,” Singh tweeted.

Earlier this year, the Congress lost the elections to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party.

After a “humiliating” step down as chief minister and subsequent quitting of the Congress last year, Amarinder Singh formed his own party, the Punjab Lok Congress, in November, just ahead of the assembly elections. Singh entered a seat-sharing alliance with the BJP ahead of the polls.

The former chief minister who has blamed the Gandhis for Congress’ defeat in the Assembly elections has said that the party was “comfortably placed” in the state before he was ousted from the chief minister’s post.

Other state leaders who have joined the BJP are Congress’ Barnala MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon and former Shiromani Akali Dal MLAs Sarup Chand Singla and Mohinder Kaur Josh.

The shifting of MLAs comes weeks after former Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar joined the BJP after he was issued a show cause notice by the Congress high command over his criticism of former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.