Kejriwal suggesting youth will sell votes for drugs: Amarinder

Wednesday, 23/11/2016

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=168584&boxid=58925&uid=&dat=2016-11-23

Chandigarh : Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lashed out at AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of “demeaning and humiliating” the state’s youth by “suggesting” they would “sell their votes in exchange of drugs”.

Reacting to Kejriwal’s purported statement that Congress would offer the youth “packets of drugs in exchange for votes in the polls”, he said, “The comment was typical of the despicable mindset of the AAP leader, who had become notorious for his insensitive and provocative remarks.”

“He is so obsessed and desperate to woo voters, a large chunk being youths, that he does not think twice before ridiculing even the innocent victims of Badal’s conspiracy,” Amarinder said.

Coming down heavily on SAD and AAP for “misleading” the youth, he said, “First the Badal-led Akali government destroyed lives of tens of thousands youth of Punjab by spreading drug addiction, and now Kejriwal has come to crush their spirit by suggesting they would sell their precious votes for drugs.”

The “frivolity” with which Kejriwal has tried to link youth with drugs bespeaks his “lack of concern” over the grave issue of drug menace in the state, he said.

“Have you no moral sense? Are you so fixated with votes that you can’t see beyond them and are willing even to destroy the last vestige of self-respect among the youth,” he asked Kejriwal.

Taking a dig at Kejriwal’s “deafening silence” on the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link (SYL) canal issue, Amarinder said, “You did not speak when you should have but put your foot in your mouth when you should have kept quiet.”

He said Kejriwal’s attempt to invoke names of martyrs such as Bhagat Singh’s to promote his “vested political interests was futile”.

“Your party (AAP) has already been wiped out of existence in Punjab, even before the official declaration of the polls. Your refusal to acknowledge this bitter truth is evident in gimmicks to mislead voters,” Amarinder alleged.

Rahul keen on inducting Navjot Sidhu in Congress

Chandigarh : Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has summoned Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Captain Amarinder Singh and former Punjab PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa, member Rajya Sabha to Delhi to confer about the induction of Navjot Sidhu who resigned from the BJP and Rajya Sabha membership recently.

It is reliably learnt that former Cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin is playing an important role to bring Navjot Sidhu, a former cricketer, in the Congress fold.

Bajwa is reported to have advised the Congress vice-president that Sidhu would be an asset to the party as he has a considerable following in Punjab besides being a good orator.

There was a possibility that Sidhu may contest for Lok Sabha membership from Amritsar, which has been vacated by Captain Amarinder Singh. His wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu could then contest from Amritsar (Central), her favoured seat.

Sources said that former hockey player Pargat Singh, who was MLA of SAD and had resigned, could also join the Congress along with Sidhu.