Capt’s first mass contact rally shifted from Majitha to Attari

Tuesday, 07/07/2015

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AMRITSAR: Did some senior Congress leaders jeopardise the initial plans that were drawnup by the Amritsar District Congress Committee (DCCrural) to hold party MP Capt Amarinder Singh’s first mass contact rally in his constituency at Majitha, the pocket borough of powerful cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia ?

The question is being asked by a number of second-rung Congress leaders, who felt that there was no better place than Majitha for Amarinder to commence his mass contact programme in his Amritsar parliamentary constituency. A majority of these leaders, who are members of the Amritsar urban and rural DCCs, had given their opinion to their respective presidents.

When the deputy leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha launched his state-wide mass contact programme from Jalandhar last month, some of the district level Congress leaders put forward the suggestion that the first mass contact rally in the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency should be held in Majitha. Their contention was that as “Majithia was the enemy number one of the Congress in the Majha region”, the rally would provide an opportunity to the party to take on the powerful minister head-on in his assembly constituency.

“Attacking the minister on his home turf, particularly on the drug issue, would have given Congress workers the much-needed boost and ammunition to attack the minister. All these years, a large number of our workers have been implicated in drug cases and lodged behind bars, which had adversely affected their morale. The number of such cases is highest in the Majitha assembly segment,” stated a senior district Congress leader while talking to Hindustan Times here on Monday.

However, before their suggestions could find any space on paper, some district-level leaders, who are thought to be closed to Amarinder, were quick to shoot down these proposals. This group also included a couple of MLAs and former legislatures from the Majha region, who obviously do not want to cross the Majithia’s path or to annoy him lest they have criminal cases slapped against them.

Thus, the first mass contact rally in the Amritsar parliamentary constituency will now be held on July 8 at a marriage palace in the Attari assembly segment. The mass contact at Majitha will now be held at latter stage.

However, despite having their suggestions being ignored, some of the bitter critics of Majithia have managed to convince Amarinder to at least pay a visit to Majitha on July 8. So, the programme that has now been chalked out is that after the rally in the Attari assembly segment, the Amritsar MP will have lunch at the rally venue and then he will visit Majitha, where he will have tea with party leaders of the constituency and others.