Former Punjab CM Amarinder opens his party office in Chandigarh

Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Monday opened his new party's office here and reasserted that his Punjab Lok Congress, along with the BJP and former Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa's outfit, will form the next government in the state.

Singh quit the Congress and launched his Punjab Lok Congress after his unceremonious exit as the Punjab chief minister in September.

Addressing the media after opening his party office, Singh said the membership drive of his outfit had already begun.

"We are very hopeful that the upcoming elections, we will win...with seat adjustment with the BJP and Dhindsa sahib, we will form the next government, said Singh.

Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah on Saturday had said that the BJP was in talks with Singh and Dhindsa for an alliance for the assembly polls early next year.

To a question on when he will meet BJP president J P Nadda for seat-sharing talks, Singh said that in principle, a decision has been taken on the alliance. "Now it is only seat adjustment. For seat adjustment, we will go and I cannot tell you the numbers (of seats each party will contest)," he said.

He said he would request both the BJP and Dhindsa's Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) to pick "winners (winnable candidates)".

"If Dhindsa's party puts up a winning candidate (from a particular constituency), then I will support him and the BJP too will support, I am sure. If the BJP candidate is a winning candidate, we will support him," he said.

"All have one aim, that is to win Punjab and we will win it, he said.