9 May , Mohali: The already aggressive campaign of Congress candidate from Anandpur Sahib lok sabha constituency Ravneet singh Bittu got a further boost on Saturday when All India Congress (I) Committee general secretary and party incharge for youth Rahul Gabdhi addressed a massive gathering organized in his support at the Dussehra ground here.The tone and tenure of various speakers at the rally and the spontaneous respone of the crowd was a clear indication that Bittu’s victory was just a formality. The question was only of the margin of victory now.
Appealing to the people to send Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of martyred Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, to Parliament he said that the young leader, who was elected president of the Punjab Youth Congress with a thumping margin in the first ever democratically held elections, “will work whole-heartedly for you. I will also work closely with him. So please send him to Parliament and make Manmohan Singh Ji the Prime Minister again.”
Lashing out at the so called “mazboot Neta” being projected by the BJP, he said his “mazbooti” was quite evident from the fact that when he was the Home Minister, the previous NDA government had knelt before the terrorists by releasing the dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar in exchange for hostages in the Kandahar hijacking. The same Masood who had been arrested and jailed during the UPA government later went on to plan the attack on Parliament and Mumbai.
Defending Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been accused by the BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K.Advani of being a weak prime minister, he said the decisive actions taken by Dr Manmohan Singh whether on the issue of loan waiver for farmers, national rural guarantee scheme or the India-US civil nuclear deal are all aimed at benefiting the common man.
Rahul said Dr Manmohan Singh was also decisive when after the Mumbai attacks his government got so much pressure to bear on the Pakistan government from the international community that for the first time it was formed to admit that the attack was planned from its soil. The peace that had descended on Jammu and Kashmir was also a result of firm steps taken by the UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh, he added.
Speaking on the occasion Ravneet Singh Bittu said that the people had to decide between having Manmohan Singh, who was honest, committed and decisive, as the prime minister again, or L.K. Advani who was bet upon dividing the society by arousing religious sentiments. If you vote for me you are voting for Dr Manmohan Singh, a Punjabi and Sikh, as prime minister, but if you vote for my rival Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema of the Akali Dal-BJP combine, you are voting for Advani.
Among others present at the rally were Congress general secretary incharge of Punjab affairs Mohsina Kidwai, CWC member and Union minister Ambika Soni, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Bhattal, Late Beant Singh’s wife Jaswant Kaur, her son and former minister Tej Prakash Singh, his son Gurkirat Singh, Mohali MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu and Nangal MLA Rana K.P. Singh.