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Journalism of Courage
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday sought to blame her partys unexpected defeat in Punjab on the fledgling Peoples Party of Punjab PPP floated by Manpreet Singh Badal,former Punjab finance minister and nephew of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
The PPP damaged us in 23 seats. More than damaging the Akalis,they damaged us, said Sonia. Incidentally,despite Manpreets tall claims in the run-up to the elections,the PPP drew a blank,with its candidates failing to even attain second position in any constituency. Manpreet finished third in both the seats Gidderbaha and Maur from where he contested. His father,Gurdas Badal,who contested from Lambi against his elder brother,Parkash Singh Badal,lost his security deposit,getting only 5,352 votes to finish a poor third.
We dont know who gave her the figure of 23. We are still making the calculations, said a senior Punjab Congress functionary. It is our understanding that most PPP candidates who got 5,000 or more votes would have got the same votes had they contested as Independents, he said.
He pointed out that it would be wrong to say that all votes that went to the PPP would have otherwise gone to the Congress.
Could not match money power of Akalis,Congress: Manpreet
I accept mandate of people of Punjab with humility. But I will not be speaking the truth if I dont say that the results have disappointed us. Akali sold a hollow development agenda and people have bought it, Peoples Party of Punjab PPP president Manpreet Singh Badal said while addressing the media a day after the poll results. Citing lack of funds as the most crucial reason for his partys poor show,Manpreet said: They spent Rs 5 crore per seat. We could not even spend Election Commissions ceiling of Rs 16 lakh. We also could not afford the massive packages demanded by the media. Manpreet claimed he was more disappointment over the fact that the people of Punjab had ignored main issues confronting the state. On his partys performance,he said with 5.17 per cent vote share,they had done well as a party that was yet to celebrate its first birthday. The PPP,he added,was not ready to bow out. Our big target now is the 2014 parliamentary polls. We will not give up till we change the rules of the game8230; said Manpreet.
