Cong leaders give Rs 23 lakh to slain YC activist Sukhraj’s kin
Tuesday, 21/05/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130521/punjab.htm#7
Amritsar : Several senior Congress leaders, including former Union Minister Ambika Soni and state unit chief Partap Singh Bajwa, attended the ‘bhog’ ceremony of Youth Congress leader Sukhraj Singh Bhagupur at his native Bhagupur village near Patti in Tarn Taran district.
A victim of pre-poll violence, Sukhraj was a candidate for block samiti elections. He was killed on May 8 allegedly by SAD supporters while he was coming out of a gurdwara after attending a religious congregation. The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president announced financial assistance of Rs 11 lakh for Sukhraj’s family. Among others who announced help for the bereaved family were Congress leader Harminder Singh Gill (Rs 5 lakh), Punjab Youth Congress president Vikramjit Chaudhary (Rs 5 lakh) and Dharam Singh Nabipur (Rs 2 lakh). In all, the family would get Rs 23 lakh.
Ambika Soni announced that a grant of Rs 10 lakh for three consecutive years would be given to a teaching academy that Sukhraj was building for the betterment of rural children. She said Sukhraj had died while “safeguarding the democracy and the party will not let his death go in vain”.
Bajwa assured the family of legal and financial help. He said poll violence had claimed six lives and hundreds of Congress workers were injured and booked in false cases across the state. The PPCC chief said the SAD-BJP coalition’s claim of peaceful elections was a “white lie” and that attacks on Congress workers were “pre-planned”. He said the party had warned the State Election Commission time and again, “but no concrete action was taken”. Bajwa called upon all like-minded parties to join hands to fight against the “anti-people” policies and “undemocratic” actions of the SAD-BJP government.
Rajiv Satav, Youth Congress national president, said Sukhraj Singh was a “martyr and a memorial will be raised for him and his pictures displayed at the Youth Congress and PPCC offices”.
