Jagmeet Brar may open his cards on Baisakhi

Perneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 8

Former Congress leader and two-time MP from Faridkot, Jagmeet Singh Brar, may open his cards on his next political move on Baisakhi at Talwandi Sabo.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone, Brar said, “I have been holding meetings with my supporters over the past few weeks. I will be visiting Takht Sri Damdama Sahib to pay obeisance on the pious occasion of Baisakhi. At present, Punjab is engulfed by so many problems and I will definitely put forth my views on some of the core issues.”

Though speculations are rife that he may return to the Congress, Brar rejected them as “mere rumours”.

He said it was all speculative and he would himself announce it to the media, once he takes a call.

Brar, 59, had resigned as Punjab Trinamool Congress chief in January this year, stating that he had quit following his failure to meet party president Mamata Banerjee over the past some months.

Brar, a former Congress Working Committee member and AICC general secretary, was expelled from the Congress in April 2016 in the wake of his “consistent statements against the interests of the organisation”.

He had joined the TMC ahead of the Assembly elections in 2017.

A two-term MP from Faridkot (1991-1996) and (1999-2004), Brar rose to fame when he defeated the then Union Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections.

He was also the general secretary of the PPCC during the peak period of terrorism.

Brar had openly criticised the Gandhis after the 2014 Lok Sabha debacle, advising them to proceed on sabbatical and hand over the party to someone else.

Brar had been a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for 10 years, general secretary of the AICC from 2010 to 2013, and secretary, AICC, from 1999 to 2010.

He was also general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress from 1983 to 1989. He lost two Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2009 by a narrow margin.