Expelled SAD leader Calcutta declares support for Congress
Wednesday, 18/01/2012
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120118/punjab.htm#2
Former Akali minister and former SGPC general secretary Manjit Singh Calcutta, who was earlier expelled from the SAD, today came out openly in support of the Congress. He was accompanied by a number of Akali leaders from Amritsar who joined the Congress. Calcutta said he was supporting Capt Amarinder Singh, but was not joining the Congress.
Calcutta’s support to the Congress assumes much significance as he was one of the last of the late SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra’s loyalists to have parted ways with the SAD. In these elections, the SAD has sidelined everyone from the Tohra camp, denying them the party ticket. Tohra’s daughter Kuldip Kaur is the only one from the camp who has been allotted the ticket.
Calcutta declared his support for the Congress in the presence of PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh, party affairs incharge Thakur Gulchain Singh Charak, and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna and others.
Both Charak and Capt Amarinder welcomed Calcutta’s support for the party. They said: “This is an indication and endorsement of the general perception that the Congress alone can provide a good government and work in the interest of the state”.
Akali leader Pardeep Singh Walia joined the Congress with at least 25 activists from Amritsar on the occasion.
