Now Captain Has Chance To Regain Punjab's Glory

Amarinder Singh government’s decision to cut unproductive expenses and the ‘VIP culture’ needs to be matched with short and long-term plans to put the state back on growth track.

- Vipin Pubby

Even as the nation’s attention was focused on the most populous and politically most important state of the country, Uttar Pradesh, and the fate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the election results rolling out of Punjab were critical for the future of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. Only a few diehard supporters of Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine were ready to bet for a third term for the alliance partners and most political experts, besides opinion and exit polls, were divided between over a victory for either Congress or the AAP. Even the opinion polls were evenly divided. While two favoured the Congress, the other two predicted an AAP victory. The final results, however, were way beyond what most had anticipated with Congress way ahead of others with both the AAP and the SAD-BJP trailing far behind.

For the Congress, it was a long time since it had tasted success and the victory in Punjab contained signals of revival of the party. However, these signals are conditional. The credit for the win goes mainly to chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. It was his aura and popularity that had also propelled him to win Amritsar Lok Sabha seat at the height of the ‘Modi wave’ during 2014 elections. Thus it would be a mistake to read the victory as any kind of endorsement for the party’s central leadership or ‘high command’. The lesson for the Congress is clearly this : Evolve and nurture regional leadership. This message is also reflected in the results from Manipur and Goa where it managed to emerge as the single largest party although the central leadership of the party let it down by not seizing the initiative to form governments.