To strengthen the party’s prospects in the Punjab Assembly elections, State Congress chief Amarinder Singh has yet again made an attempt to reach out to “like-minded” parties for an alliance.
At a meeting with the delegates of the State chapter of the United Communist Party of India (UCPI) in Patiala on Saturday, Capt. Singh said there was a communal and sectarian alliance between the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP and “there was a party like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had no ideology, leadership, policy or programme.”
“I hope like-minded parties like the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will understand the urgency of fighting the communal and divisive forces like the Akali-BJP and the AAP,” Capt. Singh said.
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“Come together in the interest of Punjab and its future … choice is yours and you have to exercise caution,” he said in his appeal to these parties.
Expressing his gratitude to the UCPI for extending unconditional support to the Congress, he said that it would certainly add strength to the party’s prospects in the State.
UCPI national general secretary Sukhjinder Singh Dhaliwal said that it was the need of the hour that all the secular, democratic and progressive forces joined hands under the leadership of Congress and Capt. Amarinder to save Punjab.
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On the controversy over the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, he said Punjab virtually had no water to spare for other States. “If the Supreme Court gave an adverse judgment against Punjab, at least ten lakh acres of land in Malwa region will turn dry and barren,” he said.