‘No time to lose, we are already in battle mode’

NEW DELHI: For the

Congress, Capt Amarinder Singh is the man of the moment. He will spearhead the party’s campaign to wrest power in Punjab in 2017. Will he be third-time lucky after successive defeats in the 2007 and

2012 assembly polls on his watch? The 73-year-old exuded his trademark confidence in an interview with Senior Resident Editor Ramesh Vinayak at his Motibagh Palace in Patiala.

What’s on the top of your mind after taking over as the Punjab Cong chief?

We don’t have time in Punjab. We have wasted 10 years and now time has come that either we are able to recover the state, or it goes under. Education, health, industry and agriculture, every sector is down. Jobs are not being created.

What’s your vision for Punjab?

Right now, finances are in a terrible shape and the primary sector is languishing. So, we will have to tighten our belts and concentrate on priority areas, which are education and job creation … (Deputy CM) Badal’s annualtamasha of the Progressive Punjab summit is not solving any problem. This is just a PR exercise. This has to be hard economics.

Why are the 2017 elections so critical for you and Congress?

For me, it’s going to be my last election. By 2022, if we form the next government, I will be 80 and I don’t want to work after that. I want to go and see the world. For Congress workers, it will be a respite from the Badal regime’s repression. And, from the national perspective, a Congress victory in Punjab is going to block the BJP.

The Punjab campaign tends to be negative, acrimonious and personalised?

We are going to keep a positive approach on this. People are fed up with name-calling.

So, no Badal-bashing?

But something will have to be said … how can I not talk about things like corruption, drugs, FIRS against Congress workers?

Are you taking a leaf out of the Bihar poll, where the Opposition unity swung the verdict?

It will be welcome if all secular forces come together. I have already talked to Manpreet Singh Badal of the People’s Party of Punjab. Avtar Singh Karimpuri of the BSP is also open (to an alliance). On communist parties, I have spoken to (Sitaram) Yechuryji.

You have become the PPCC chief by upstaging Partap Singh Bajwa. Will the truce hold on?

All that is behind us. Every Congress leader’s future is at stake … So, unity is the first priority.