Punjab Newspaper

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh began his 4th round of Punjab Vikas Yatra in the Malwa belt.
Addressing the media persons at the outskirts of village Pakho Kainchian, Capt. Singh said that the massive crowd assembled on the both sides of the roads passing through the Malwa had not only made him emotional but mustered enough courage as the Chief Minister of the state to give a drubbing to the Akalis for their wrong doings that led the state to the brink of disaster. “I am overwhelmed due to the sheer love and affection showered upon us in general and as Chief Minister in particular during the yatra that reflects our firm commitment and relentless efforts for the overall development of the state and welfare of all the sections of the society”, said Capt. Singh.
He said that the growing popularity and rising graph of the congress party especially after the massive response to the vikas yatra in the home burrow of Akalis had created panic and frustration amongst the rank and file of Akalis who were virtually apprehensive of losing the battle of ballot in the next assembly elections.
Striking a jubilant note over the euphoria of the tremendous success of the yatra, Capt. Singh said that he was sure that his party would win the next assembly elections with more than 75 seats. He pointed out that an independent survey being conducted by our party, AICC and other agencies had indicated that a strong wave was in the favour of the Congress which would lead to its victory.
To another question, Capt. Singh said that party’s election manifesto would be released by the mid of January and the allotment of tickets would be finalized by the end of January 2007. He belied the tall claims made by Badal’s about strong wave in favour of Akalis which would be further strengthened after the announcement of code of conduct by the Election Commission of India. Capt. Singh however said that Badal was a biggest liar in the world and there was no truth in his statements. “Do Mr.Badal think that after the model code of conduct coming into force would affect the functioning of the government in any way. Cabinet and other meetings at the level of government would be held in routine except taking any policy decisions”, said Capt. Singh. He quipped that the wave as claimed by Badal would blow in favour of Akalis after the elections. He said that the support of the masses was the sole decisive factor to determine the destiny of any political party and today undoubtedly the mass support base with us. “If sea of humanity openly welcomes us on the roads is indicative of the affirmation of their faith in our pro-people policies and programmes and I am sure that our party would seek mandate in the coming elections exclusively on the plank of performance and development undertaken by us during our regime”, observed Capt. Singh.

Bashing at Badal, Capt. Singh said that he, his son and his coterie was criticizing our government out of sheer dejection because they did not have any political agenda to pursue their election campaign during the forthcoming assembly polls in the state. He said that they were raking up the frivolous scams thereby involving Kulwant Singh and Kewal Dhillon. He said both of them would soon file a defamation case against Sukhbir Badal. He said that father son duo were habitual of mudslinging because of their cynical and narrow outlook. He said what they had gained out from the earlier baseless and wild accusations against our government.

Replying to another question about the allotment of tickets to the prospective candidates, Capt. Singh said that congress party had a prescribed procedure unlike the Akali Dal where Badal was free to allot tickets to anybody. He said that in the case of congress party the final decision was to be taken at the level of Congress High Command keeping in view the sole criterion of the winnability of the candidate.

On the corruption case of Badal, Capt. Singh said that the Badal case was now fixed for trial on 23rd December at the special court at Ropar. He said that the High Court had already pronounced a judgement by a double bench comprising of Justise Swtantar Kumar and Justice Amar Dutt that Badal should face the trial proceedings in the corruption case at the lower court and to evade these proceedings. He filed a SLP in the Apex Court which had now been vacated and the Supreme Court has asked the Badal to appear in the special court at Ropar for trial proceedings on the day to day basis.

On being asked about the elections rallies to be addressed by Party High Command Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Capt. Singh said that he had proposed Smt.Gandhi to address four rallies one each in eastern and western Malwa, Doaba and Majha in the month of January and Februray. He said that he would also made a similar request to the Prime Minister to address such rallies separately at the peak of electioneering in the state.

Asked to comment about the campaigning by the film stars in the ensuing elections as done by the BJP in the past, Capt. Singh replied that the film stars and other stalwarts in the political arena would be campaigning for our party. He said that we had far more film stars from bollywood than BJP to campaign for us.

Replying to another question about seeking the artifacts of Sikh Reference Library during Operation Bluestar, Capt. Singh said that SGPC President made a formal request to the Prime Minister to restore the possession of these artifacts to SGPC which were now in the custody of Army at Meerut. He said that Dr.Manmohan Singh assured us that he would take up the matter with Ministry of Defence in this behalf. He however said that the state government would also pursue with the centre to seek the early possession of these artifacts.

The Chief Minster announced a grant of Rs.40 lakh for the construction of disposal drain and Rs.20 lakh for setting up of a college at Dhanaula in Sangrur district thereby conceding the 40 years old demand of the residents of the area.

Buoyed over the massive response to the vikas yarta at, Sehna Bust Stand, Pakho Kenchian, Bakhtgarh, Thikriwala, Barnala, Tandian Dhaba, Dhanaula, Harigarh, Badbar, Dug-Bahadurpur, Mastuana Sahib, Badrukhan, Sangrur, T-point Bhindran and Phaguwala and finally reached at Bhawanigarh thereby covering six assembly constituencies of Bhadaur, Barnala, Dhanaula, Sunam, and Sangrur with a total distance of 76 KMs. Capt. Singh intermingled with people and shook hands with them thereby breaking all the security barriers and listened to their grievances. Thousands of men and women on the rooftops of their multi-storyed shops and houses welcomed the Chief Minister by showering flower petals and dancing of mares at the tune of Dhol. Thousands of people waited for 3 to 4 hours to greet the chief minister as the yatra was delayed by 2 hours due to the fogy weather. Meanwhile, Capt. Singh along with his colleagues had a cup of tea at the residents of dalit Kaka Singh son of Kulwant Singh at village Bakhtgarh. He also had a hurried lunch on the top of his Gypsy with Makki di Roti and Sarson da Saag at the outskirts of the village Naiwala. They honoured the Chief Minister with thousands of Siropas, shawls, swords and mementos as token of love and affection. The jubilant men preformed bhangra on the beat of drums and a group of Nihang Singhs in their traditional attire performed ‘Gattka’ to welcome the Chief Minister as his cavalcade reached the Barnala. Thousands of workers of youth congress on motorcycles in a procession from Sehna to Bhiwanigarh ahead of Chief Minister’s motorcade welcomed the yatra and it would resumed from Sherpur tomorrow.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Senior Vice President PPCC Kewal Singh Dhillon, Excise & Taxation Minister Sardul Singh and DCC President Sangrur Surinderpal Singh Sibia.