VOICE OF EX-SERVICEMEN PUNJAB

Sukhbir listens only to bootlickers, thinks he’s superhuman: Pargat

Says he will script SAD-BJP ouster; praises Aam Aadmi Party and former MP Navjot Sidhu

JALANDHAR: Two days after he was suspended from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh gave clear indications that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is his next destination, and launched a scathing attack on deputy chief minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, questioning his merit and calling the SAD “a party of chamchas (sycophants) and dalals (deal-brokers).

Pargat, who addressed the media in Jalandhar on Wednesday, said there was no place for plain-speaking persons like him in the SAD.“Only those are heard who lick shoes of the SAD chief. On the other hand, the SAD chief thinks himself to be a superhuman,” said Pargat.

The former India hockey captain said the Akali Dal had become a “mentally bankrupt party” and the decision to suspend him reflected that.

“Show me a reason where I breached the discipline. Yes, I raised my voice against corruption and other issues, but never crossed the line. Still, I was suspended as I opposed the solid waste management plant in, which would have played havoc with the lives of people in my constituency,” said Pargat. MOCKS SUKHBIR ON INTELLIGENCE INPUTS “I heard that I was suspended as intelligence agencies gave inputs to the deputy CM that I was in Delhi on Monday to meet AAP leaders. How funny? Actually, I was in Chandigarh to attend a Vidhan Sabha meet and even met a few MLAs and IAS officers. You may well judge what sort of intelligence agencies he is relying upon,” said Pargat. ‘HAD THOUGHT OF QUITTING POLITICS’

The MLA said before his suspension from SAD, he was giving a thought to quitting politics as he was a “misfit”.

“But after getting news of suspension on Monday night, I made up my mind that I won’t quit and script their ouster. It’s my nature, If I am good, I am very good, and if I am vindictive, I go till the last,” he said. WON’T RESIGN AS MLA

Pargat said he would not resign as an MLA. “I won’t even reply to the notice served on me. I won’t be in SAD even if they accept my demands,” said Pargat.

SAD won’t reach double-digit mark: Bolaria

REBEL MLA BLAMES SUKHBIR BADAL FOR PARTY’S PLIGHT, APPRECIATES SIDHU FOR LEAVING BJP

From page 01 AMRITSAR: Launching an attack on the Shiromani Akali Dal, which suspended him from the party on Tuesday, state legislator Inderbir Bolaria said the party stands no chance of winning the upcoming assembly polls, while holding deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal responsible for it.

“I was expecting this when I raised a banner of revolt. I left them long back but did not resign from the party because I never wanted to impose a byelection on the people of my constituency,” he said.

Addressing mediapersons at his house here, Bolaria confirmed he will contest the polls from Amritsar (south) assembly segment, but said he was watching both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party very closely before taking any decision, within two months.

Bolaria, who revolted against the part while objecting installation of a solid waste management plant in his constituency, said: “I don’t know which party I will join. But wherever I go, my only condition is that the plant should not be installed here. Whenever Sukhbir Badal comes here to lay the foundation stone of the project, he will face my opposition.”Bolaria, who was once a blueeyed boy of the Akalis, said people will reject the SAD in the 2017 polls and the party will struggle to touch the doubledigit mark.

Slamming both the deputy chief minister and revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia for wrong policies of the government, he said, “Akali Dal is not a bad party, but people running the show, at present, are bad.”Calling cricketer-turnedpolitician Navjot Singh Sidhu a “good man”, Bolaria said he has done well by leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party.

What’s up on AAP? Suspense over Sidhu’s next move thickens as theories float

INITIAL ENTHUSIASM SHOWN BY AAP LEADERS REPLACED BY GUARDED RESPONSES

CHANDIGARH: Two days after cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from the Rajya Sabha, suspense continues over his switching from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Though top leaders of the AAP, on the condition of anonymity, say he is joining them, it is not clear when and what his role will be. This has left the field open to speculation and guesswork.

The initial enthusiasm shown by AAP leaders welcoming Sidhu was replaced by guarded public responses over Tuesday and Wednesday. AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s exulted first reaction to Sidhu’s resignation gave way to a detached response during a function in Delhi on Tuesday. “There is nothing like that,” he replied when asked if Sidhu will be the chief ministerial candidate of the AAP in Punjab.

AAP leader and rights lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka took to Twitter on Monday to show his appreciation of Sidhu’s move: “Good brother, you decide to come on Pitch, not just shout from stands. We all who love Punjab need to join hands to eradicate evil.” When contacted on Wednesday, Phoolka said he had no clue if Sidhu was joining: “I was in Tarn Taran with the Punjab Dialogue (AAP manifesto-building) team. I don’t know if anything happened in Delhi.”

Two theories are doing the rounds. On the shift in the AAP response to Sidhu’s resignation, some party sources said it was the result of a strong negative reaction from within the party, particularly leaders in Punjab. Though state unit convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur and campaign committee head Bhagwant Mann have publicly made the right noises on Sidhu, sources said they have not liked being taken out of the CM race, and demanded that the party followed its guiding principle of democratic functioning and allowed the winning MLAs to choose a CM. “Everyone gets a fair chance in that case. The leader who has the largest number of MLAs’ support should become the CM,” said a party leader. A section of Punjab leaders has suggested that Sidhu be asked to campaign and contest in Punjab and then join the race for CM-shipAs for the other theory, the AAP took one step forward and two backward on Sidhu following the scathing attack from opposition parties, who said the AAP had made a deal with Sidhu after he set some conditions. On Tuesday, AAP Punjab affairs incharge Sanjay Singh and senior leader Ashish Khetan were at pains to explain to the media that there was no “secret or open deal”. Thus, the party’s plan now is to “go slow”, get Sidhu in as the party’s star campaigner, and declare him the CM candidate in the coming months.The fact that Sidhu has remained incommunicado since his resignation has made it murkier. There is no clarity on whether he has resigned from the BJP or not. While his wife said he had quit the Rajya Sabha as well as the party, there is no sound of it from the party. A few BJP leaders in Punjab suggested that he is back into talks with the saffron party but most others said: There is no comeback door open.