Eyeing LS poll, Amarinder visits Nurmahal dera

Monday, 19/11/2012

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121119/punjab.htm#2

Nurmahal (Jalandhar): Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh seems to have started preparing for the Lok Sabha elections. Along with a team of top Congress leaders, including Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Leader Sunil Jakhar, former ministers Santokh Chaudhary, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh and Amarjit Singh Samra, Member of Parliament Ravneet Bittu and Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) president Vikramjit Jit Singh, he visited the Nurmahal-based Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan today.

Amarinder and his team spent at least 30 minutes with the followers of sansthan head Ashutosh Maharaj and attended his pravachan (sermons). Amarinder garlanded the dera head as a mark of respect. The visit was arranged by PYC president Vikramjit Jit.

This was Amarinder's second visit to the dera. He had earlier visiteded the dera during the Adampur byelection. To a query, he claimed that the visit had nothing to do with the coming parliamentary elections. To another question, he said: "We respect all the deras."

Talking to mediapersons at a temporary helipad here, Amarinder accused the Parkash Singh Badal-led Akali government for "unleashing terror on Congress workers" to coerce them into joining the Shiromani Akali Dal, threatening them with action under the land ceiling Act or registering false cases against them.

Amarinder alleged that Punjab had become bankrupt and the Badal government was imposing new taxes, including property tax, on persons with two-marla houses.

"There is a need for declaring financial emergency in the state," he said, adding that people had begun to realise that they had committed a mistake in re-electing the Akalis.

Nawanshahr: Reiterating that the appointment of Justice Jai Singh Sekhon as Lokpal was against the spirit of the institution, Amarinder Singh said that the Akalis had hijacked the institution.Talking to mediapersons after attending a function to mark the death anniversary of Congress leader Parkash Singh, he alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was trying to meddle in the affairs of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC), which was an elected body.

The former Chief Minister said the Akalis did not have any vision for Punjab. He alleged that the Central Government had sanctioned three medical centres for drug de-addiction and cancer treatment. "Instead of setting these up in the affected areas, particularly the Malwa region, Badal has taken one of the centres to Mullanpur near Chandigarh, only to ensure that the value of land owned by his kin there increased appreciated considerably."

On alliance with other parties, he said, nothing had been decided as yet.

Paying tributes to Parkash Singh, the Pradesh Congress president said he was instrumental in accelerating development in Nawanshahr during his tenure as MLA.

He expressed all support for his widow Guriqbal Kaur Babli, MLA, and son Angad Singh, a PYC leader.