Amarinder,Manpreet sound poll bugle

Sounding the poll bugle,former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh called upon party workers to work hard to oust the SAD-BJP regime. “The public voice seeking a change of guard is already emerging stronger by the day,” he said.

Warning police officers,who were allegedly instrumental in lodging “false cases” against Congress workers across the state,of action,Amarinder said: “We will deal with each police officer individually for the harassment meted out to our fellow workers in these four years. I promise to take revenge and will not let the erring officers go scot-free. The Badals will not come to save them,once the Congress government is formed.”

The Congress managed to put up a united face as leaders of all factions were present at the rally. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal,who is from Sangrur,stood by Amarinder and offered all her support to bring Congress back to power.

Addressing the rally,Amarinder criticised Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for not giving a single statement in public in the last eight months. He said both Badal and his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal were not “bothered about Punjab or its people”.

He also blamed the present regime for “throwing Punjab into economic crises” and said by the time this government would be ousted,Punjab’s total debt would cross Rs 80,000 crores,leaving the next government with empty coffers.

Earlier,Bhattal sought a white paper on the Central funds being spent in Punjab,claiming that all development taking place was from Central funds. She also alleged that the SAD-BJP regime was not doing anything for farmers and claimed that if the Hooda government in Haryana could give special bonus from the state funds,why couldn’t the Akalis.

Claiming that there was no factionalism in the Punjab Congress,she instead charged the Akalis with “never being together”,citing instances of Gurcharan Singh Tohra,Ravi Inder Singh and Manpreet Badal. “One wonders if the junior Badal will also run away from his father one day,” she said.

Among others who also spoke at the rally organised by former Sangrur MLA Arvind Khanna were former minister Lal Singh,Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla,MLAs Kewal Dhillon,Surinder Singh Sibia,Razia Sultana,Harchand Kaur and Surjit Singh Dhiman.

PCC to be recast after AICC revamp next month

Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh said the state unit of the party would be recast soon after the AICC reshuffle and after having a new general secretary in-charge for Punjab. “We will do the recast of the Punjab Congress in consultation with the new AICC general secretary and in-charge of Punjab affairs,” he said,adding that this could be done anytime next month.

Diversity in unity

Even as Congress leaders put up a united front and claimed that the party stood together,the supporters of different factions within the Congress continued with sloganeering for their respective leaders throughout the rally. While the supporters of CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and local MLA Surinder Singh Sibia stood on one side,the faction of former MLA Arvind Khanna stood on the other,each side trying to suppress the voice of each other. Fortunately for the party,however,the slogans were not raised against each other.

Traffic snarls

The rush of Congress workers descending on Sangrur led to traffic snarls in the town and commuters had to face a tough time. While the locals faced a lot of problems going from one place to the other,Congress leader Mai Roop Kaur from Dhuri had to walk down a few kilometres to reach the rally venue.