Capt: Akal Takht can’t summon PM
Tuesday, 06/09/2011
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110906/punjab.htm#1
Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh said today that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh could not be summoned by Akal Takht on the issues of Anand Karaj Act and the Sehajdharis.
Putting up a spirited defence, he said: ”With all respect to the sanctity and authority of the Takht, while in office, a PM does not belong to any religion and represents all the people of his country,” he pointed out.
Accompanied by MP Santosh Chaudhary and PCC general secretary Arvind Khanna, Amarinder met workers from the three assembly segments of Sham Chaurasi, Garhshankar and Chabewal at Mahilpur (Hoshiarpur) this noon.
Taking the Akalis head-on, he said the SAD, particularly Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, was being ungrateful by saying that the Congress-led UPA Government headed by Dr Singh was discriminating against them. “It is a fact that the state coffers are empty and most works in the state are being funded by the Centre. It would not be wrong to say that the state is surviving on central grants alone,” he added.
He said during his regime, the Centre had provided 10,000 tonnes of grain per year for the people living below the poverty line. Now during Badal’s reign, Punjab was getting 10,000 tonnes every month.” This means the state is getting 12 times more than what it was getting earlier,” he explained.
Amarinder reiterated that his party had nothing to do with the SGPC elections. At pains to clarify that his visit had nothing to do with the screening of candidates for the coming assembly elections, he said that the party had a proper mechanism to finalise the candidates. “Allotting the party ticket is the sole discretion of party president Sonia Gandhi,” he said.
Others present on the occasion were PCC general secretary Arvind Khanna, local MP Santosh Chaudhary, Tarlochan Singh Soond, DCC chief Sunder Shyam Arora, MLAs Love Kumar Goldy and Sangat Singh Giljian, DYC president Amarpreet Lally, former MP Kamal Chaudhary and Sonu Dhesi.
• PCC chief meets workers of three assembly segments of Sham Chaurasi, Garhshankar and Chabewal
• Says state with empty coffers is surviving on Central funds
• Reiterates that his party has nothing to do with SGPC elections
