Kochi: Congress government’s decision to probe into its former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s association with Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam has exposed the party’s vindictive attitude against a longtime Congressman and the move is likely to boomerang on the party.
The decision also seems to be a blunder as the matter is likely to further embarrass the party as its chief Sonia Gandhi is seen with the defense scribe Aroosa Alam a few times. A former defense officer, Capt Amarinder Singh’s name was linked with Alam for many years.
Was grand old party not aware of it when it made Captian the Chief Minister of the state? Or is it a knee jerk reaction to Amarinder’s reported plans to float his own party and his growing association with the BJP.
In the first place, the Congress have failed badly in managing problems within the party that was mainly created by late entrant Navjyoth Singh Sidhu after leaving the BJP which gave little importance to him.
Sidhu and his medico wife have been fomenting trouble in Congress by targeting Amarinder Singh who failed to get any support from the party. Amarinder has long association with Congress which started with Captain’s acquaintance with late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was his schoolmate.
On the other hand Sidhu had entered politics only in 2004. The Congress seems to have gone berserk for its declining public support and losing its foothold across the country.
The exit of Capt Amarinder from Congress shows its failure to manage the crisis due to the absence of strategists in the party. It all started with the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa ordering the probe to if Aroosa Alam has any links with Pakistan spy agency ISI.
“Aroosa was in India for four and a half years and her visa was also extended from time to time. Why did Delhi not cancel her visa? Why did she leave India when we went against Amarinder Singh?” tweeted the deputy CM.
Aroosa Alam is Captain Amarinder Singh’s close friend and has been visiting him for several years. Amarinder responded by saying that “You were a minister in my cabinet. Never heard you complain about Aroosa Alam. And she’d been coming for 16 years with due GoI clearances. Or are you alleging that both NDA and Congress-led UPA governments in this period connived with Pakistan’s ISI?”, Captain countered with a tweet.
