Capt gives clean chit to Sarkaria, Bajwa differs
Wednesday, 23/10/2013
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AMRITSAR: For mer Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh here on Tuesday gave the clean chit to the party’s Raja Sansi MLA Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, who had recently invited the Congress high command’s ire for his open criticism of Amarinder’s successor Partap Singh Bajwa.
Though Sarkaria’s case is still pending with the All India Congress Committee (AICC), Amarinder told the media at the local Bhagtanwala grain market, “He (Sarkaria) had grievances with the party leadership, which he highlighted. Now, the matter is closed.”
However, when contacted, Bajwa told HT on the phone, “Sarkaria’s case is still pending before the AICC. He has got no clean chit.”
It was Sarkaria, a staunch loyalist of the Captain, who organised the latter’s visit to the mandis, even as some of the senior Congress leaders from Amritsar and Gurdaspur stayed away.
The former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief was here to extend support to farmers who are facing problems in selling their paddy and basmati produce.
‘NO INVITES SENT’
On the absence of senior leaders of Majha, Amarinder said, “No invitations were sent. I meet local leaders wherever I go and interact with workers who come there.”
He did address party workers, most of whom had been ferried by Sarkaria to the grain market here. With a majority of those present being farmers, the Captain said it was unfortunate that the Punjab government had turned its back on their problems related to paddy procurement, even as he assured them that he would take up the matter with the union food ministry.
Besides Sarkaria, the party leaders who were there to welcome Amarinder included Tarn Taran district Congress committee (DCC) chief Dr Dharamveer Agnihotri and Attari assembly constituency incharge Tarsem Singh DC. Both leaders have lost two successive assembly polls. Another leader present was Ashwani Kumar Pappu, a staunch supporter of former union minister Ashwani Kumar.
When asked about his absence, PPCC vice-president and Majha incharge OP Soni said, “I was away from the city and got back late in the afternoon.” In fact, this was the reply given by all senior leaders who were later contacted by HT.
However, Soni made it clear that there were no orders from anyone on ‘ignoring’ Amarinder, who commenced his own parallel tour from the Doaba region on Monday. His tour is mainly centred around meeting party workers and expressing his party’s solidarity with farmers, who are awaiting procurement of their paddy in mandis.
Besides the local mandi, he also visited the grain market at Bhakna village and at Attari. He also met party workers over lunch at the residence of Manjit Singh Daoke at Attari.
DEFENDS RANINDER’S INVITE TO MAJITHIA
Amarinder defended son Raninder Singh’s invite to revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia for a shooting event being hosted by the Punjab Rifle Shooting Association.
“Majithia was invited in his capacity as the president of the host association. Remember that Majithia had lost to Raninder in the election to the president of the National Rifle Shooting Association,” he added.
He refused to draw a parallel between the invite to Majithia and the cricket match that was held between Akali-BJP and Congress MLAs in 2007. Amarinder had taken then Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal to task for having agreed to play the match at a time when the Akalis were indulging in political vendetta against Congress workers.
“I fully agree with Bajwa that unity in the party is very vital,” he said. He described his tour as a ‘jagriti’ (awareness) campaign in the build-up to the Lok Sabha polls, when the entire rank and file of the party would move forward together.
