A day after selecting Ramanjit Sikki as its candidate for the Khadoor Sahib Assembly by-poll in Punjab scheduled for February 13, the Congress on Wednesday announced that it would boycott the by-election.
Punjab Congress president Capt.Amarinder Singh told reporters in Chandigarh that the Congress decided to boycott the by-election as the party had felt that the issue of sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib over which Mr.Sikki (former Congress MLA) had resigned, still remained unresolved.
Mr. Sikki resigned as MLA from the Khadoor Sahib Assembly seat in November 2015 in protest against a series of sacrilege incidents in Tarn Taran district and other parts of the State.
Capt.Singh said party members felt that the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib was an issue which far outweighed politics. “Keeping in view the situation in Punjab because of the incidents of sacrilege, we have decided to boycott this by-election,” he said, adding that the SAD-BJP government was not probing the issue seriously. However, the decision has not gone well with a section of the party cadre.
‘Admission of defeat’Punjab’s Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the Congress had opted out of the by-poll owing to the fear of defeat. “It’s an admission of defeat by the Congress. Capt.Amarinder is a quitter,” Mr.Badal said.
BJP’s Punjab State president Kamal Sharma said the Congress action was an admission that the party stood nowhere in the Assembly elections due next year.”
