Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to woo the large Punjabi NRI community scattered around the globe and get them to back him ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in the state. He is planning a two-month trip to those pockets in the US, Canada and Europe where Punjabis are politically active and are keen to get involved in state politics.
The former Punjab chief minister and deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha is hoping that the NRIs will do for him what they did for AAP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The expatriates had not only funded AAP's campaign but also motivated their relatives back home to vote for 'jhadu', giving the greenhorn party four MPs when it had drawn a blank in the rest of the country.
Amarinder, of course, will not be alone in this endeavour. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has already announced that his party will set up units in foreign countries. Cabinet ministers are expected to soon take large contingents to foreign shores and get NRIs on their side.
Interestingly, it is not as if Congress has asked Amarinder to reach out to NRIs. This is his own plan at a time when his camp within the Punjab Congress is becoming more assertive. There are already deep fissures within the party with state Congress chief Partap Bajwa running his separate mass contact programme that has so far been ignored by Amarinder's supporters.
"I will visit the US, Canada and European countries in September and October to interact with them, to get feedback from them about their issues and their concerns for Punjab," Amarinder told TOI on Wednesday, in the backdrop of his rally in Jalandhar.
Sources in the party said many believe AAP damaged the Congress more than SAD in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and NRIs' social media campaign ensured that people voted in droves for the new party.
"NRIs are also disappointed with the infighting within AAP and the party's slackness in Punjab. It is the right time to strike to win them over as many of them are still upset with the SAD-BJP government," said a Congress MLA supporting Amarinder. "NRIs can also help with funds and that would cut AAP's financial lifeline."
Speaking to party workers in Jalandhar, Amarinder called AAP's leaders inexperienced. "They are already divided in three camps even as party has not gained anything after parliament elections," he said. "Akalis are looting Punjab and AAP doesn't know how to govern as they are showing in Delhi."