Amarinder refutes reports of Bansal rejoining Congress
Monday, 14/12/2015
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MANSA: Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has refuted reports that former party MLA Mangat Rai Bansal would rejoin the Congress at the party’s rally in Bathinda on Tuesday.
Clarifying his stand on corruption on his Facebook page, Amarinder said, “One of our major planks is curbing corruption, therefore, there is no question of letting Bansal join the Congress.”
Responding to a netizen’s query, the Captain accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of spreading such rumours in the media.
Meanwhile, Bansal is busy mobilising his supporters for the December 15 rally. He expressed ignorance about Amarinder’s social media snub. “I am meeting my supporters and mobilising them for the rally. I will rejoin the Congress as I have already conveyed it to our senior leader, Sunil Jakhar,” said Bansal.
He said some local leaders in the Mansa unit of the Congress were vehemently opposing his move to rejoin the party.
Vikram Mofar, district president of the party, refrained from commenting on the issue. Another leader, Rampal Dhaipi, said inviting a convicted leader to rejoin the party would only dent its image. “If the rally itself is being held to highlight corrupt practices of the SADBJP government, how can a leader convicted for corruption be allowed to join the party?”
Bansal was convicted by a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Patiala in 2013 along with 23 others, including three officials of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and rice millers of Mansa. All were accused of playing a role in the procurement and supply of substandard paddy. However, Bansal was granted bail the same year. Bansal had won the 2007 assembly polls from Budhlada in Mansa on the Congress ticket. In 2012, he lost to Janmeja Singh Sekhon of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) from Maur.
In September 2012, Bansal joined the SAD. He quit the SAD earlier this year in protest against incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.
