Cong vs Cong: Was not invited for Patiala meet,says Captain

Preneet,on the other hand,said it was Channi’s responsibility to invite Amarinder. “Channi said that he had invited Maharaja Saab (Amarinder) but he had some pressing work. We welcomed new party chief Bajwa in Patiala and it was a good workers’ meet. It is unfortunate that such a controversy happened. I think Laal Singh did not mean the way he said it. My son Raninder could not come as he is busy with the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) elections,” she said.

Amarinder said that even if he had been invited,he would not have come as he is in Delhi with his son Raninder for the NRAI polls. “My son is re-contesting as president and I am here to support him. It is not Bajwa’s last rally in Patiala,there would be many more,so why is my absence being blown out of proportion? Everybody cannot be everywhere at the same time,” he added.

He also disagreed with news reports that Laal Singh had raked up the issue in a “derogatory way.”

“My association with Laal Singh goes back 40 years. He is an old colleague and has been a minister in my cabinet. I do not agree with reports that he would have spoken about my absence and my son’s by asking ‘where is Captain?’ So I do not believe all that’s being attributed to him,” Amarinder said.

Laal Singh,on his part,said he had raised the issue as the party presented a disunited picture before workers. Training his guns again at Preneet,he said inviting the area MLA and former chief was the job of the programme’s incharge (Preneet Kaur). On Bajwa and Channi’s assertions that they had extended a personal invitation to Amarinder,he said: “You just don’t formally inform a former chief about a workers’ meeting in his constituency. He had to be taken into confidence regarding arrangements for the event. It is one thing to just inform and quite the another to give him the respect that he deserves,” Laal Singh added.