People of Punjab will prefer Congress to AAP: Bajwa

Thursday, 08/10/2015

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AMRITSAR: Rejecting claims of rival political parties that the Congress was no longer a force to reckon with in the border state, Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa said here on Wednesday that people would prefer an experienced party to an inexperienced one to replace the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government in 2017.

Dismissing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders’ contention that the 2017 assembly elections in Punjab would be a fight between the AAP and the SAD-BJP combine as the Congress was a divided house, Bajwa said, “The electorate of Punjab will not make another blunder of re-electing the ruling alliance. People are aware that a split in opposition votes due to the AAP’s presence in the electoral arena can benefit the SAD-BJP, so to rid the state of the Akalis, they will choose the Congress.”

Talking to mediapersons, he pointed out that in the 2012 assembly polls, the emergence of the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) benefited the SAD-BJP alliance as there was a split in the opposition votes. “This is not going to happen in 2017 as the people have realised their mistake,” Bajwa claimed.

“Voters are not going to go with the inexperienced ‘aam aadmi’ and will prefer the Congress, which has in the past provided the best chief ministers and governments. People still remember late Partap Singh Kairon, who ushered in prosperity in Punjab, and late Beant Singh, who sacrificed his life for bringing peace and normalcy in the state,” the state Congress chief said.

He claimed that the AAP was no longer the force that it was when it was formed and its popularity was on the decline, mainly because the Arvind Kejriwal government had failed to perform in Delhi.

Bajwa refused to answer queries about his ongoing duel with Amritsar MP and former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. He, however, said everything would be sorted out by the Congress high command in the days to come.

REITERATES DEMAND FOR CM’S RESIGNATION
On the pesticide scam in the Malwa belt, Bajwa demanded the resignation not just of agriculture minister Jathedar Tota Singh but also of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. “The CM should quit on moral grounds as he cheated cotton growers of the belt that had repeatedly made him the chief minister,” he added.

He demanded a inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the pesticide scam to catch hold of all the guilty, not just former agriculture director Mangal Singh Sandhu and some of his fellow officers.

The state Congress chief will tour mandis of Majha and Doaba in the next three days in an apparent bid to put pressure on the state government for purchasing paddy crop at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,450 per quintal. He also asked the CM to fulfil his commitment of fixing the price of PUSA-1509 and PUSA1121 basmati varieties.