Will move court on violations in delimitation of wards: Bajwa

Saturday, 30/03/2013

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130330/punjab.htm#7

Bhaini Sahib : Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Partap Singh Bajwa today paid a visit to Bhaini Sahib, headquarters of the Namdhari sect. The visit, preceding his state-wide tour after assuming charge, comes at a time when the Congress is trying to regain its ground in the state.

The newly appointed PPCC chief, whose priority, apart from leading a united Congress in the state, is to shore up support among the masses, seems to be taking his job in right earnestness, say observers.

Talking on the sidelines of Hola Mohalla organised at Bhaini Sahib, Bajwa said the Congress would move the court on the “violations” in the delimitation of wards for the panchayat poll. “This time, the Congress will not let the ruling party subvert a free and fair poll. We will fight injustice tooth and nail. I will lead from the front,” he said.

He charged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal with “throttling the voice of democracy” and “browbeating” his opponents. “I urge the CM not to destroy democratic institutions and not to take the poeple for granted,” he said.

He defended the Congress MLAs’ boycott of the Vidhan Sabha session. However, on the issue of PPCC appointments, a rather defensive Bajwa said these were an interim arrangement and had been cancelled on the directions of the High Command that did not favour a piecemeal arrangement.

He hit out at SAD general secretary Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa who had mocked at “the humiliating treatment meted out to him by the party high command” on the issue of appointments.

Bajwa said he felt sorry for Dhindsa who, despite years of political experience, was at the tail-end of the Akali Dal hierarchy.

Claiming that zonal heads had been appointed by the high command after taking him into confidence, he said political parties at the national level had to consider regional balances and caste equations.

“Unlike the regional parties that take important decisions at the breakfast table only to retract these the next morning, national parties follow a chain of command. But this does not mean that state leaders have no say.” The PPCC chief claimed that the Congress would sweep the coming parliamentary elections.

Bajwa paid respects to Satguru Uday Singh, head of the Namdhari sect. He was accompanied by Congress leader HS Hanspal, Sukhdev Singh Libra, MP, Ludhiana District Congress Committee (Rural) president Malkiat Singh Dakha, Ludhiana District Congress Committee (Urban) chief Pawan Dewan, MLAs Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Rakesh Pandey, former MLAs Sukhpal Khaira and Malkit Singh Birmi and PPCC legal cell member Harpreet Sandhu.