Eyeing AAP’s NRI base, Capt embarks on foreign tour today
Tuesday, 19/04/2016
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/eyeing-aap-s-nri-base-capt-embarks-on-foreign-tour-today/224407.html
New Delhi : With an eye on the 2017 Assembly elections, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh will tomorrow begin his foreign tour to tap into the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) NRI base in North America.
The former Chief Minister will be back by May 9.
“Amarinder is going abroad for important party work and for garnering the support of NRIs in the US and Canada,” Congress general secretary for Punjab Shakeel Ahmad said today when asked why Captain had decided to take such a long break from the cut and thrust of Punjab politics when AAP is emerging fast on the state scene.
Amarinder yesterday said it was important for the Congress to engage NRIs who form a very important part of Punjab’s political scenario and whose views on various issues carry weight.
“I have decided to go and talk to all major Punjabi NRI groups based in the US and Canada. The idea is to clear their doubts, tell them what the Congress has to offer and seek their support for a credible anti-Akali-BJP alternative in Punjab. AAP has no credibility in the state though they earlier enjoyed tremendous NRI support. The idea behind my trip is building bridges with the NRIs who matter a lot in Punjab affairs,” Amarinder said today, adding that he was even willing to talk to groups such as the Sikhs for Justice that represent radical elements with strong anti-Congress views.
While Captain has decided to cover North America, his wife and Patiala MLA Preneet Kaur earlier toured Australia and New Zealand to build NRI support for the Congress for the Assembly elections. Amarinder is likely to ask his wife to cover UK later.
Back in Delhi, Ahmad again found himself fielding questions on why Amarinder was not being declared as the party’s chief ministerial candidate when he was the one doing coffee sessions with students and now even touring abroad for campaign among NRIs.
The questions came two days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, during his Chandigarh trip, refrained from making the party’s position on the matter clear.
Exploiting this confusion, AAP, led by convener Arvind Kejriwal, yesterday ran a massive social media campaign saying that Rahul had failed Amarinder.
The Congress rushed to dismiss AAP’s Twitter barrage on this issue, with Ahmad today saying, “The very fact that Kejriwal himself is raising the issue of whether or not Amarinder will be our CM candidate in the state shows how afraid he is of Captain.”
The Congress again clarified today that Rahul never said Captain won’t be the party’s CM candidate. “We are in no hurry. The elections are 10 months away. Amarinder is the face of our campaign in the state,” Ahmad said.
Battery of Cong leaders to power tour
Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh, primarily coordinating for the PPCC chief’s Toronto and Vancouver programmes, will leave on April 20. Former PYC chief Vikramjit Chaudhary will attend the first event in Chicago. Barnala MLA Kewal Dhillon has been at the forefront in organising the tour, while other party leaders, including MLAs Sukhjinder Randhawa, Sukhbinder Sarkaria, Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Gurkirat Kotli, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi and former MLA Ramanjit Sikki, are also going along. Hans Raj Hans, who had got tickets booked for April 17 to aid Capt on his foreign tour, has now backed out.
