Core issue for Cong is to win elections: Asha

Wednesday, 06/07/2016

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/core-issue-for-cong-is-to-win-elections-asha/261699.html

Chandigarh : Punjab Congress affairs incharge Asha Kumari said here today that the core issue for the party was to regain power in the state.

After presiding over her first meeting with office- bearers of the PPCC, she said there was only one group in the party headed by Sonia Gandhi.

The guarded reply came on being asked about the absence of certain leaders owing allegiance to various groups in the state unit.

In her brief media interaction, she avoided comment on the Malerkotla sacrilege incident. Ambika Soni, AICC general secretary and chairperson of the campaign committee, said PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh and CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi had already issued statements on the issue.

On AAP’s alleged involvement in the Malerkotla incident, Amarinder said it showed the party’s nefarious designs to disturb peace in the state. “Those involved should be arrested at the earliest,” he said.

Taking a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s claims of integrity after his Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar was arrested for alleged corruption, the former CM said the officer had been frequently removed during the then CM Sheila Dikshit’s tenure over graft complaints, yet Kejriwal chose him.

Alleging political vendetta by the NDA government, Amarinder said, “When the ED issued notices to my son (Raninder Singh) at the behest of Arun Jaitley, the AAP leaders went all out to validate the baseless charges, and now when they are facing the heat, they are crying foul. My son is abroad. He will reply on his return.”

The party leaders who attended the meeting included Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Harish Chaudhry, Charanjit Singh Channi, Manish Tewari, Preneet Kaur, Sunil Jakhar, Lal Singh, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Shamsher Singh Dullo, Santosh Chaudhry, Manpreet Badal, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Vijay Inder Singla, Ashwani Sekhri and Raj Kumar Verka.

Tempers run high outside Congress Bhavan

Chandigarh: Tempers ran high outside the Punjab Congress Bhavan, the venue of the PPCC meeting on Tuesday, as a number of Congress workers were denied entry due to high security. Even the official vehicle of Leader of the Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi was not allowed to enter. Nawanshahr MLA Tarlochan Singh initially refused to enter the premises when his supporters were denied entry. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal’s driver had a heated argument with the security staff at the gate. Meanwhile, senior party leaders and MLAs went for lunch to the residence of Capt Amarinder Singh, barring Rajya Sabha MP Shamsher Singh Dullo.