LUDHIANA, November 12: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today said that the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his Deputy Chief Minister son Sukhbir Badal were fighting a losing battle for survival. So much so they were running away from their traditional assembly segments of Lambi and Jalalabad respectively to find some safer constituencies elsewhere in Punjab, he remarked.
Addressing a massive public rally as part of the Punjab Bachao yatra here today, Capt Amarinder said, having received information from their intelligence agencies that they were losing from both their traditional constituencies and poor response to their party programmes, they have now started searching for safer seats. “No matter what they do, whether organise a kabbadi match or nude dance, nothing is going to save them this time as people of Punjab have made up their mind to throw them outâ€, the PCC President told a tumultuous crowd of over fifty thousand people amidst thundering applause.
He said, the father-son duo had felt the pulse of the people who have resolved to throw them out and hence are now desperate to run here and there in search for survival. He pointed out, they antagonised all sections of the society, be they farmers, the industry, the traders, the students or the educated unemployed youth. “And when the youth try to meet Mr Badal at his sangat darshan they are lashed with lathisâ€, he pointed out, while remarking, this would only happen under the rule of dictators like Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein but was unheard in a democracy.
The former Chief Minister asked Mr Badal what he had done for Punjab. He said, when Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh visited Ludhiana during his tenure, he announced Rs 2000 crore for the national urban renewal mission for Ludhiana. “What happened to that money?†he asked, while adding, they embezzled it all. He said, similarly he had got Rs 3000 crore loan sanctioned from the World Bank for clean drinking water but there is no account of that money.
Capt Amarinder said, it was not surprising for the Badals to embezzle the public money when they did not spare even the Guru’s Golak. He reiterated his charges that the Badals and the SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar were responsible for the deficit in Durbar Sahib. He revealed that during last year they had claimed to have distributed only shiropas worth Rs 8 crore from Durbar Sahib which is quite intriguing and needs to be probed.
Addressing the rally, the party incharge for Punjab Thakur Gulchain Singh Charak congratulated the PCC President Capt Amarinder Singh and other party leaders for mobilising the masses against the government. He said, he was feeling a change across Punjab as people had made up their mind to get Congress back to power.
He said, the Akali-BJP government in Punjab had crossed all the limits in letting loose a reign of terror on the Congress workers. He said, this was unprecedented and unheard of that people in a democracy will resort to such means against political opponents.
The Congress Legislative Party leader Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal lashed out at the Badals for destroying Punjab and betraying the Sikh panth. She said, they were Golak Chors and had always exploited the name of the Sikh panth.
Ludhiana MP and the National Spokesperson of the Congress Manish Tewari said, the presence of over fifty thousand people in the rally today was enough testimony that the Akali-BJP government had lost the trust of people. He said, they had destroyed Punjab and brought it down to 19th position from the first position.
Earlier the District Congress Committee Ludhiana Urban president Pawan Dewan welcomed the guests. Jagmohan Singh Kang was the coordinator for today’s rally.
Prominent among those present included PCC general secretary Arvind Khanna, MLAs Harmohinder Pardhan, Gurdeep Bhaini, former ministers Rakesh Pandey, Surinder Dawer, Milkiat Birmi, DCC Ludhiana (rural) president Milkiat Singh Dakha, Jagdeep Sidhu, delegates Bhupinder Sidhu, Gurmail Pahalwan, Amarjit Singh Tikka, Jasbir Chadha, Balkar Sandhu, Dimple Rana, Leena Taparia, Vikram Chaudhary, Kuldeep Jhandha, Sanjay Talwar and others.