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Journalism of Courage
The Congress Thursday put up a united front with party’s who’s who, including state unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, descending on Ludhiana to support Bharat Bhushan Ashu as he filed his nomination papers for the June 19 Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll.
Holding Warring’s hand, Ashu hit out at the opposition parties that had been questioning the Ludhiana MP’s absence from his campaign. “Here is our pardhan (president) standing with me, and he is here to fight my election. Now, please ask others where their presidents are? Everyone was questioning us about our president. Now the same question should be asked from other parties too,” said Ashu.
Addressing a rally before filing the nomination, Warring expressed confidence that Ashu would win the seat. He appealed to the rank and file of the party to work wholeheartedly like they were fighting their personal election.
“Each one of you has to put your best efforts to make Ashu win. We have to make him. This is not an election of any individual but of the entire Congress party. The victory will belong to each and every party worker,” Warring said.
Ashu declared total assets worth Rs 9.41 crore, including Rs 6.54 crore (immoveable) and Rs 2.87 crore (moveable). He declared his profession as agriculturist/dairy farmer and two criminal cases are pending against him, as per the affidavit.
Taking a dig at AAP state president Aman Arora who was recently in the US but is now back, and BJP state president Sunil Jakhar whose family lives in Switzerland, Ashu said: “Now, can AAP and BJP answer if their state presidents will come from the US and Switzerland to campaign in Ludhiana?”
The relations between Ashu and Warring had soured after the party had picked latter as party candidate from Ludhiana for Lok Sabha elections 2024, and he subsequently won.
Meanwhile, apart from Warring, prominent among those who were present included AICC general secretary in-charge Bhupesh Baghel, MP and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Amethi MP Kishori Lal Sharma, Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla, MLAs Rana Gurjit Singh, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Pargat Singh and Aruna Chaudhary, former Faridkot MP Mohammad Sadique and former minister Vijay Inder Singla.
Baghel said the writing was on the wall and the Congress would win the seat with a record margin.
Earlier, a priest and a gurdwara granthi recited the prayers before Ashu proceeded to file his nomination papers.
His wife Mamta Ashu, a former Congress councillor, filed her papers as a covering candidate for Ashu.
The Ludhiana West seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.
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