Shakeel defends Capt rallies, calls for SAD-BJP ouster

Wednesday, 02/09/2015

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SANGRUR: All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Shakeel Ahmed on Tuesday defended Captain Amarinder Singh’s rallies across Punjab, maintaining that it is not possible for one person to run around and hold rallies to promote party ideology.

AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed (2nd from left), former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa and Youth Congress chief Amrinder Raja Warring during a rally in Sangrur on Tuesday.

Ahmed, Congress in-charge, Punjab affairs, said this on the sidelines of the Punjab Bachao Rally here.

He said the people of Punjab must elect the Congress in the 2017 assembly elections for the overall development of the state and throw out the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) coalition which he termed as corrupt.

“Punjab got maximum financial benefits and development schemes during the tenure of the UPA government, while the Modi regime chose to ignore the state,” Ahmed claimed while addressing the rally.

He said the party had allowed its leaders even at the block level to hold rallies and mobilise workers for the upcoming 2017 assembly polls.

“There is no question of a disciplinary action against any party leader who holds such rallies as long as he or she does not speak against its own leaders,” he said. As why some key leaders did not attend the rally, Ahmad said it was a state-level rally and “we had sent invites to all”.

Replying to a question, he said people of Punjab were fed up with drugs and unemployment. PPCC president Partap Singh Bajwa said even the Prime Minister and the Union home minister had taken up the issue of drug menace. Rajnath Singh had mentioned this when he had attended a function to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Anandpur Sahib.

“Names of top Akali leaders have surfaced in different scams. I assure people that it would be a united Congress that would confront the corrupt SADBJP regime in 2017 assembly elections,” Bajwa said during the rally. Former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal took a dig at the Badal government for exploiting the panthic agenda to garner votes. She appealed to people to throw out the “repressive government”.

She criticised the Modi government for backtracking on every promise, including implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report and the issue of bringing black money back.

Former state Congress president Shamsher Singh Dullo, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Amarinder Singh Raja War ring and for mer MP Vijay Inder Singla also addressed the rally.