16 Sep : Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today ridiculed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for his naive and foolish attempts to bribe the people of Patiala. In a statement issued from London, Capt Amarinder remarked, "it is sheer naivety on part of Badal to presume that he can bribe the people of Patiala with Rs 250 crores so that they overlook his acts of omission and commission so far"
Capt Amarinder said, the people of Patiala have a strong and emotive relationship with him and his family for over 250 years, when his forefather Baba Aala Singh founded the cityof Patiala. Moreover, people of Patiala understand the motive behind Badal’s promised bounty as the timing itself explains everything. He pointed out, Badal has been the Chief Minister for four times and how come he found the love for Patiala only now. "Obviously he is trying to atone for the cardinal sin he committed by getting their duly elected representative disqualified from the assembly for personal prejudice by using the numerical majority in the house", Capt Amarinder observed, while adding, people of Patiala are wise enough to see through his dubious motives.
The scion of the Patiala royal family maintained that their emotional bonds with the people of Patiala were too precious and priceless to be bought by the petty traders like Badals. "This is Badal’s typical way of doing things; bribing people for his personal gains", Capt Amarinder remarked in his imitable style, while adding, "but here he will fail miserably as he must realize that everything is not saleable, not at least the trust, love and confidence the people of Patiala have always reposed in me and my family for over 250 years".
He pointed out, the people of Patiala have returned him to the assembly twice and him having the privilage of becoming CM Punjab after becoming MLA from here,besides also getting his wife elected to the Parliament twice. Referring to the allegations of Badal that he had hardly done anything for Patiala, Capt Amarinder remarked, "I don’t need to explain it to Badal at least, because the people of Patiala know what I have done for them". He pointed out, people of Patiala had time and again acknowledged it with the huge margins of votes with which he was elected to the assembly.
The former Chief Minister said, Badal may cry hoarse that there was no political motive in his day long sangat darshan at Patiala on Sunday, but everybody knows and understands why he needed to spend a full day there canceling all other prescheduled engagements. "One fine morning he wakes up and decides to listen to the people of Patiala, what a great awakening and realization", he remarked while adding, "I must appreciate Badal’s honest admission that Patiala would no longer be discriminated against, which means he had been discriminating with them (people of Patiala) so far as they had elected me to the assembly with such a sweeping margin", he pointed out.
Capt Amarinder hoped, Badal keeps his promise of giving Rs 250 crores to Patiala. "Because we know how sincere he is in his promises and commitments, the former Chief Minister remarked.
Jeetmohinder Singh Sidhu on behalf of Capt.Amarinder Singh