Capt flays Badals for celebrations
Monday, 03/12/2012
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CHANDIGARH: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee ( PPCC) chief Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday lashed out at chief minister Parkash Singh Badal a nd de puty chief minister Sukhbir Badal for presiding over the colourful inauguration of the Kabaddi World Cup in Bathinda on Saturday amid the state mourning over the demise of former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral.
“It is an act of extreme impropriety and utter shamelessness - when the chief minister himself announced state mourning across Punjab - that he not only allowed the show of celebrations, festivities, dance and fireworks but also presided over it,” Amarinder said in a statement here.
“Was Badal mourning or celebrating the death of the former PM, who happened to be the first Punjabi prime minister of the country and a great friend of Punjab?” he asked.
He stated that on the one hand Badal was “wailing and whining over the loss of the great son of the soil”, but on the other he was “gleefully enjoying the dance show and fireworks to mark the inauguration of the kabbadi tournament”.
Amarinder said the Congress would complain to the Punjab governor about “such an impropriety on the part of the Punjab government”.
“Governments do not announce state mourning for the sake of formality, which Badal has tried to make it,” he observed. “Badal took a straight flight from Gujral’s cremation to the celebrations, which is quite unfortunate and unbecoming of a chief minister,” Amarinder stated.
Amarinder also ridiculed Sukhbir’s statement that the event was “a world cup”.
