Captain rules out quitting Congress
Saturday, 22/08/2015
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=138107&boxid=57808&uid=&dat=2015-08-22
Chandigarh: Ruling out quitting the Congress party and forming a separate political outfit, Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha and former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday asked, “do you think with all this love, respect and support of MLAs, Congress workers and leaders and also the general public I should be leaving my party and leaving everything behind?” Asserting that Punjab’s polity was usually bipolar, said that the 2017 assembly elections may turn out to be a contest between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party with the Akali Dal and BJP remaining on the fringes only.
Talking to reporters at the residence of CLP Leader Sunil Jakhar, after leading a dharna in front of the Chief Minister’s official residence here, Captain Amarinder claimed that the Congress continued to be the “strongest party” in Punjab in terms of mass base and public support. He pointed out that both during 2007 and 2012 elections, Congress had lost the election by merely one per cent of the votes against the Akali-BJP combine. He said, “while the BJP remained inconsequential in Punjab, the Akali reputation had touched its nadir. Congress was the only viable option before the people of Punjab.” He said AAP may be commanding an appeal among a section of youth, but it does not have any experienced leadership except for Sucha Singh Chhotepur. Replying to a question about Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s charges that the Congress had betrayed and let down late Harchand Singh Longowal, Amarinder retorted, “let me ask Badal as who betrayed him and who backed out of the Accord which Sant Longowal signed with Rajiv Gandhi.”
On the issue of the PCC also holding dharna outside the sugar mills for payment to the sugarcane growers, Amarinder said it was a good thing as everyone in the party was working towards public welfare. “What is wrong in it if we are holding a dharna here outside the CM residence while others are holding it outside the mills,” he asked, while adding everybody’s purpose is to get the farmers their due which is pending for a long time. Amarinder refused to divulge any details about his meeting with the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday. “It is a confidential matter between me and my party and I don’t like to go public about it,” he said.
