Frustrated Akalis deflecting attention from failures: Capt

Sunday, 22/11/2015

http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/

New Delhi : The Congress today trashed Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal’s accusations of it hobnobbing with secessionists and said a frustrated Akali Dal was leveling wild allegations on the Opposition to deflect people’s attention from its own failures.

“The ruling Akali Dal is a big zero in Punjab. The Congress is on the top. Akalis wouldn’t win a single seat if elections were held today. Their attempts at controlled destabilisation of Punjab have gone out of control and they are now making absurd statements to divert public attention from total collapse of governance on issues of farmers and on law and order,” Congress’ Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh said today. His remark came from the Congress headquarters, in his first-ever appearance at the AICC podium amid indications of his imminent elevation in the Punjab Congress unit.

Amarinder also slammed Sukhbir for suggesting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s role in recent troubles in Punjab. “Rahul has nothing to do with anything, least of all with the Sarbat Khalsa held in Amritsar on November 10,” he said.

The former Punjab CM described the SAD’s allegations against Rahul as a byproduct of his recent petition to the President seeking a judicial probe into the Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege. “I want to know where Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal is. Why is he silent? If Rahul can hold a foot march in the CM's daughter-in-law’s constituency Bathinda, what is stopping Badal from doing the same or from meeting the families of those killed in police firing at Moga? The Akalis are frustrated as their electoral base is eroding,” he said.

The Congress leader also questioned the Akali Dal’s credentials on secularism recalling senior Badal's jail term for tearing up the Constitution and his recent act of raising a memorial for terrorists in Punjab. On Sarbat Khalsa, Capt said: “It is not a political gathering and the sole secessionist Simranjit Singh Mann has been asked to leave after he insisted he would flag Khalistan.”

About Congress’ Ramanjit Sikki and Inderjit Zira’s presence at the meeting, Capt said Sikki, who recently resigned as MLA, attended the event on account of sacrilege at a gurdwara in his own segment. Capt asked Sukhbir if he would call Punjab BSP chief anti-national for attending Sarbat Khalsa.