With the party rank and file as well as people from the “holy city” responding to his call for a show of strength, Congress’s Deputy Leader in Parliament Amarinder Singh on Saturday vowed to “completely expose the double standards” of the BJP before the next Assembly elections, which are due in about two years now.
If the numbers and the response at the “Lalkar Rally” were any indicator, Capt. Singh established his position of being Congress’s spearhead against the Akali Dal-BJP alliance in Punjab. Though some top leaders stayed away, the party’s rank and file threw their weight behind Capt Singh who had reclaimed his position by defeating BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley from Amritsar during last year’s general elections. “Congress was never so much united and strong as it proved to be today,” a buoyant Capt Singh said while responding to questions related to factional divisions.
Addressing one of the largest rallies organised by the Congress in the Majha region comprising Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts, Capt. Singh dared the BJP to withdraw support to the Akali Dal on the drugs issue, which had eaten into the vitals of the State and ruined the Punjabi youth. He said that after having forged an alliance with the Akali Dal for the Delhi Assembly elections, BJP’s criticism, about involvement of its alliance partner’s leaders in the drug trade, was left with no legs to stand on.
Capt. Singh said that it was clear that the BJP president Amit Shah had deliberately run away from the Congress challenge, which had announced a parallel rally on the day when he was scheduled to launch the party’s anti-drugs awareness campaign. Linking Delhi Assembly polls to cancellation of Mr. Shah’s Amritsar programme proved untrue as on the same day, the BJP chief went to Bihar instead. Capt Singh reiterated that the Congress would again organise a parallel rally, whenever the BJP reschedules Mr. Shah’s programme in Amritsar.
Blaming the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal for attempting to divert public attention from the drugs issue, Capt. Singh said that two ministers and one Chief Parliamentary Secretary had already been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for their alleged involvement. To help the Akali Dal, the BJP government at the Centre had ordered the transfer of the ED officer, when the case had approached a critical stage, which also exposed the collusion between both parties. He said that Mr. Badal had not learnt from his experience of being Chief Minister for five tenures as issues like unemployment, sliding economy, industrial and agriculture decline continued to plague the State.
Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Sunil Jakhar launched a no holds barred attack on the BJP, whom he accused to voting against the Congress sponsored no-confidence motion on the drugs issue in the last session of the legislature. He went in detail about the “open loot” of public resources, while the law and order machinery had failed to ensure security of the citizens. Former Union minister, Manish Tewari, in his address said that while development had come to standstill, the economy was sliding, leaders of the ruling alliance were busy building their own empires of hotels and real estate.
Later, interacting with the reporters, Capt Singh refused to take any questions related to his differences with the president of the Punjab unit of the party, Partap Singh Bajwa. He said that the
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had been appraised of the facts and it was the high command’s prerogative to take a call now.
