Capt lines up Congress MLAs for drug rally, hits out at BJP - 35 out of 43 turn up
Sunday, 25/01/2015
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/politics/capt-lines-up-congress-mlas-for-drug-rally-hits-out-at-bjp/34180.html
Amritsar : With Congress leaders rallying around in his support and a massive crowd attending his ‘Lalkar’ rally, Captain Amarinder Singh today took on the BJP for its “duplicity” on the drug issue. He challenged the saffron party to break its alliance with the Akali Dal if it was sincere in its fight against drugs.
Amarinder managed to put up an impressive show of strength with over 30 party MLAs, former ministers, former MPs and MLAs throwing their weight behind him.
With party leaders coming out in his support from almost all parts of the state, he also showed to the party high command that he enjoys considerable clout in the party and also that he was still the tallest leader in the Punjab Congress.
Most of the speakers, while addressing the rally, termed Amarinder as the ‘saviour of Punjab’ and urged him to take charge of the party ahead of 2017 Assembly elections. The leadership issue dominated the rally to such an extent that the drug menace, which was its focus, once seemed to have been relegated to the background.
PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa and his faction stayed away from the event. However, four out of five MLAs from his hometurf Gurdaspur — Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Ashwani Sekhri and Aruna Chaudhary — were present. The fifth MLA from Gurdaspur is Bajwa's wife Charanjit Kaur Bajwa.
Addressing a rally, Amarinder said while BJP chief Amit Shah was claiming to hold a rally against drugs at Amritsar, his party was supporting the Akalis and their tainted ministers in the Punjab Assembly. Blaming CM Parkash Singh Badal for his failure to curb the drug menace, Amarinder lashed out at the Akalis for "promoting and peddling" drugs in Punjab.
Who attended rally
Among the notable names were CLP leader Sunil Jakhar, former Union Ministers Preneet Kaur and Manish Tewari, former PPCC chief Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh, ex-ministers Lal Singh, Jagmohan Singh Kang, Chaudhary Jagjeet Singh and Avtar Henry, and former Governor RL Bhatia
Who did not
Ex-CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, former PPCC Chief Shamsher Singh Dullo, Youth Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Bittu, MLAs Brahm Mohindra, Randeep Nabha, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Surinder Dawar, Rakesh Pandey and Kuljit Nagra
