Ahead of the 2017 Punjab assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress on Thursday appointed former Congress leader Jagmeet Singh Brar as the partys state unit chief."Brar has been fighting for the cause of the people of Punjab for several years. He will continue to fight against corruption and the drug menace in the state," Trinamool Congress Vice-President Mukul Roy said here.The Trinamool also said it plans to forge an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party for the Punjab assembly polls. "The plans for the Punjab polls are being finalised. It is too early to say anything. But we do have a great rapport with the AAP; both want to fulfil the people's wish to get rid of the current SAD-BJP alliance government in the state," said Trinamool MP Sultan Ahmed. Brar, who was expelled from the Congress in April, is a former member of Parliament and a former Congress Working Committee member.
In the wake of the Congress defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Brar suggested that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi go on a sabbatical so as to introspect on the worst ever performance of the Congress.He was eying to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He said his decision to join the Trinamool was in due consultation with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party."My decision to join the Trinamool is part of a larger initiative to form a national alternative and was done after due consultation with the AAP," Brar said.He said his unconditional support to the AAP will continue so as to rid Punjab of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government. "Our efforts along with the AAP to rid Punjab of the (Parkash Singh) Badal scourge will continue. There is no scope for difference here," Brar said. "Our support for the AAP will continue unchanged and unconditionally under the leadership of (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee," he said.