The Congress is a demoralised party as several of its leaders, including Union Minister Manish Tewari and State party chief Partap Singh Bajwa, are running away from the electoral battle for the Lok Sabha, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Sunday.
“How can a party function...Bajwa is running away from contesting Lok Sabha polls...how can an army (Congress) function when the General (Bajwa) is not prepared to enter the battlefield,” he said here.
He was speaking here after inducting a former Congress minister and former MLA Ishar Singh Meharban into the Akali fold.
Referring to Mr. Tewari, who was hospitalised in New Delhi on Saturday, he said: “I am sad.”
However, taking a jibe at Mr. Tewari, he added: “He is running away from contesting polls as he knows Congress leaders, including Ishar Singh, from the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency are joining the Akali Dal.”
“You can imagine the kind of moral Congress leaders in Punjab are into...if leaders like Bajwa and Tewari are running away from contesting polls what will be the mindset of Congress workers,” he said.
On BJP allocating the Amritsar Lok Sabha ticket to Arun Jaitley and ignoring three-time MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, Mr. Badal said: “It’s an internal matter of BJP.”