‘It was Sonia’s decision, so I am fighting for an MLA seat’
Sunday, 17/08/2014
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PATIALA: Claiming that she had not aspired to contest in the assembly polls, Congress candidate for Patiala Urban bypoll Preneet Kaur said that it was All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi’s decision that she should fight for the assembly constituency.
HT spoke to Preneet about key issues like the rumoured compromise between the Badals and her husband Captain Amarinder Singh, her candidature in spite of losing in the Lok Sabha polls. Excerpts : Why are you taking a step backward by contesting for the post of MLA after having been a union minister?
It is unfair to say that I am fighting for the party, not for myself. It is time for me to give back to my party which thrice made me a member of Parliament and later a union minister. AICC president Sonia Gandhi wanted me to contest as she wants to maintain the party’s winning streak in bypolls after the Uttarakhand byelections and break the SAD’s bypoll success streak in the state. So, Soniaji delegated the responsibility to Maharaja saab (her husband Captain Amarinder Singh) and me. A win here will rejuvenate the party and the Congress will gear up for the 2017 assembly polls.
Is it fair that after being rejected by voters in the recent Lok Sabha polls, you are now contesting for the assembly? SAD is hitting you hard on this issue. The Lok Sabha elections were entirely different. They were fought on national issues. People rejected the Congress-led-UPA and I accept the public’s verdict. This bypoll is a referendum on the SAD-BJP’s eight years of governance in Punjab, particularly in Patiala. Here, people will decide on the basis of local issues. And the public is disillusioned with the SAD-BJP regime.
If losing in an election translates to not contesting in the next, then why is the Akali Dal contesting after having finished third in the Lok Sabha polls from Patiala? How come a new entrant AAP trounced you in the Lok Sabha polls? That is the beauty of democracy—people deliver the judgment. There was widespread anger against both SAD-BJP and the Congress-led UPA government and the AAP capitalised on it. But, the situation is totally different in assembly elections. Here, the people will punish the ruling Akali Dal by voting for the Congress. SAD and AAP tagged you as a ‘non-performer’; you failed to bring any major project to the city. Why was this?
It is the SAD-BJP which is a non-performer, not me! They have turned the city into a dump yard. Patiala, a beautiful city during the Congress regime (2002-07), has the worst-ever civic infrastructure. A union minister can bring grants, but it is the state government which has to execute the works. As a UPA member, I have brought several grants, but the Akali Dal diverted it to Bathinda. I brought ` 150 crore for the Rajindra Hospital. I do not know where they spent it. The CM must explain.
