3 min readFerpzepurMar 28, 2009 10:50 PM IST
First published on: Mar 28, 2009 at 10:50 PM IST
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal made thousands of people from more than 145 villages of Ferozepur wait for more than five hours at Bhasin Palace in Ferozepur Cantonment,where he officially kicked off the campaign for SAD candidate Sher Singh Ghubaya today afternoon.
He was supposed to arrive at noon,but he turned up at 3 pm,while the villagers were told to take their seats at 9 am.
After every 15 minutes,stage secretary Gurnam Singh told the audience that Sukhbir would be reaching any moment and made them practise sloganeering. But when the Deputy CM actually arrived,the enervated audience could not utter a word.
Natha Singh from a border village said,“We are too tired now
have already raised enough slogans.” A visibly-irritated Sukhpreet Singh from Machibugra village stood up and asked the stage secretary,“Ki Badal Chandigarh to chal reha hai (Is Badal starting from Chandigarh?).”
After a long wait,hunger pangs had started hitting the backstage party workers,who started digging into kulchas at a nearby rehri outside the venue.
Area MLA Janmeja Singh Sekhon said,“We are late and a number of villagers have already left the hall.”
Most of the villagers were brought by Sekhon. Baldev and Gurmail Singh from Badian Kalan village,said,“We are opinion leaders in our village. In fact,most of the people brought to the venue have an influence in their respective areas.”
When Sukhbir arrived at the venue,he lashed out at the Congress government for slashing monthly ration quota of wheat from 35 kg to 12 kg per month for above poverty line (APL) families,just before the announcement of Lok Sabha elections.
He also held party workers’ meeting at Ferozepur Cantonment,Guruharsahai,Jalalabad and Abohar.
‘This is a war and you are warriors’
Sukhbir called the Lok Sabha elections a war and the voters the warriors. “The war is on now and you all are the brave warriors. Politics is not a game of kings. The Congress has failed because it is a party of kings,who stay in ivory towers.” Referring to Jagmeet Brar,the Congress candidate from Ferozepur,he said,“He should be called Jagmeet Gappi. Rather than fielding his son,Captain Amarinder should have himself contested from Bathinda. The Congress will lose from Bathinda by 1.5 lakh votes and in Patiala we will defeat ‘Rani’ by one lakh votes.”
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