Will share stage with Capt in two months, says Bajwa

Sunday, 26/07/2015

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AMRITSAR: A united Punjab Congress along with Captain Amarinder Singh and him on one stage — state party president Partap Singh Bajwa foresees this turnaround in just two months.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Partap Singh Bajwa and party’s Amritsar unit chief Ravi Bhagat (left) addressing a press conference in Amritsar on Saturday.

At a press conference here on Saturday, Bajwa, who was in the cabinet of Amarinder when the latter was chief minister from 2002 to 2007, said the former Punjab Congress president had run the state very well then.

“Amarinder (Amritsar MP and deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha now) may be organising his rallies separately from the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee now, but, at the end of the day, both of us have the same goal — to dislodge Parkash Singh Badal as chief minister. So when our party, (central) leaders, goals, and prime enemy are the same, where is the question of disunity?” he asked reporters in reply to a question.

“You will see us (Amarinder and him) together on one stage shortly,” Bajwa claimed, adding that Amarinder’s tenure was far better than the latest two tenures of the Badal government “that has failed to give a solution to financial crisis and other problems”.

‘UNITED FRONT A GOOD IDEA’
Bajwa welcomed the idea of People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) president Manpreet Singh Badal to forge a united front of the opposition to take on the ruling Akali-BJP alliance in the 2017 assembly elections.

“There is no harm, if the opposition parties unite for the common cause of Badalmukt (Badal-free) Punjab,” said.

‘SAD-BJP LEADERS OF MAJHA, DOABA WEAK’
Responding to the claims of chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu that money meant for her constituency had been diverted to Bathinda, Bajwa said: “It has happened because the Majha and Doaba belts have weak Akali and BJP leaders, who don’t have the courage to confront the Badals and demand their right.”

Regarding Dr Sidhu’s statement that she did not trust the chief minister to keep him promise of grants to her assembly constituency of Amritsar East, the PPCC president said: “If this is the case, then why doesn’t she quit the alliance? If an elected representative of the ruling alliance has no faith in the chief minister, how can the people have it?”

CRITICISES UNION AGRICULTURE MINISTER
Reacting to the statement of Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh in which he had linked farmers’ suicides to “failed love affairs, impotency, and dowry”, Bajwa said to hear these remarks over a sensitive issue and that, too, in Parliament was unfortunate.

“The Prime Minister himself should come forward with an apology,” he said, claiming that the remarks had hurt the sentiments of farmers, who were under a lot of stress already due to inclement weather.