Tuesday, 9 August 2016

With eye on elections, Amarinder meets Dhadrianwale

THE MEETING HOLDS SIGNIFICANCE IN THE RUN-UP TO ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS AS THE SIKH PREACHER HAS A STRONG INFLUENCE IN THE MALWA REGION OF THE STATE

Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh with Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale at Shekhupur village near Patiala on Tuesday. MLA Sukhjinder Randhawa (left) was also present.

PATIALA: Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting with Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale at his “dera” at Gurdwara Parmeshar Dwar near Shekhupura village, around 15km from Patiala.This is the first meeting of the former chief minister with Dhadrianwale after an attack on the religious leader on May 17. The meeting holds significance in the run-up to the assembly elections as Dhadrianwale has a strong base in the Malwa region.

Amarinder reached the dera without any information where he was accorded a VIP treatment.

The meeting was arranged by state Congress vice-president MLA Sukhjinder Randhawa, Captain’s aide, who has already arranged his meetings with sect leaders, including Dera Sachkhand Ballan head Niranjan Dass, who hold the key to the Dalit vote bank, all prominent Sant Samanj leaders and Baba Sewa Singh of Rampur Khera, a prominent figure in the Doaba region.A known basher of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Dhadrianwale has a strong base in the Malwa belt of the state. Aam Aadmi Party had also tried to woo the Sikh preacher as Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal visited him after the May attack.

After meeting Dhadrianwale, Amarinder accused chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for attack on the Sikh preacher and other religious leaders. “Badal has come to know that he is set to lose power, thus he is playing his last card to disturb the peace in Punjab to scare voters. There is a set pattern in sacrilege incidents, attack on Dhadrianwale, murder of Namdhari sect matriarch Chand kaur and attack on Hindu leaders. And all this is being done by Badal and his team,” accused Amarinder.

“After Dhadrianwale narrated me about the attack, there is not iota of doubt that it was carried out with backing of the Badals. The Congress will support the Sikh preacher in the legal battle and after forming the government, it will arrest those involved in the murderous attack,” he said. He also accused the police of going soft on the case.

‘GIVE ARMY A FREE HAND IN KASHMIR’ Amarinder also lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not giving a free hand to the armed forces to bring normalcy in the Kashmir valley. “I also feel there should be a dialogue with the all factions. But before that, normalcy should be restored. Modi is not allowing the use of power by the army and its demoralising our force. The army should be allowed to undertake its standard procedure to control the situation,” he said.

ATTACKS BRAR Attacking Jagmeet Brar, who termed Amarinder as a Khalistan ideologue, the former CM said: “The art of tattooing is famous these days, but no one knows that Jagmeet has tattooed “Khalistan” on his arm in the 1980s. Before attacking me, Brar must show his tattoo to the public,” he said.

‘Winnability to be sole criteria, some MLAs may not be lucky’

MANSA: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Captain Amarinder Singh, who attended the ‘Lokan Da Darbar’ programme in Sardulgarh on Tuesday, hinted that some sitting party MLAs may be dropped in the coming elections depending on their performance.

Sardulgarh assembly constituency is represented by Congress MLA Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, despite that, SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal had earned a lead of 20,000 votes from this assembly constituency in the Lok Sabha elections.

Registration of false cases, discrimination against Congress workers and non availability of drinking water in the region remained the major issues highlighted in the programme.

One of the local congress workers asked Captain to offer free-run to party workers after coming to power so that they can avenge the injustice done by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) workers. To this, Capt said, “I will avenge each and every case of victimisation and vendetta and it is my fight. I will not let anyone who victimised my people, go scot-free.”During the ‘Halke vich Captain’ programme, he said that after Congress forms the government, all the villages and panchayats with Congress majority, which have been ignored and discriminated against by the Akalis, will get priority in the allocation of development funds and grants.

Along the sidelines of ‘Halqe vich Captain’ programme, the PCC president said that the party has already started the process of identifying candidates.

He added that surveys by independent agencies are being carried out to assess the performance of ticket-aspirants.

Regarding the Congress MPs’ and MLAs’ mass resignations against the SYL verdict, Capt said, that the party will go to the people and seek their support so that they have adequate numbers in the Vidhan Sabha to bring in a law to save Punjab’s water.

Phoolka took money from anti-Sikh riot victims: Capt

Bharat Khanna

Tribune News Service

Sardulgarh (Mansa), Aug 9

Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh alleged here today that Supreme Court lawyer and AAP leader HS Phoolka had taken money through his junior advocates for fighting the cases of victims of the 1984 riots. Capt alleged that Phoolka took Rs 60,000 out of Rs 80,000 from each of his 12 juniors.

“He has falsely claimed that he did not charge anything for fighting the cases. We will expose him soon,” the PPCC chief said.

Speaking to The Tribune on the sidelines of the ‘Halke vich Captain’ programme, Amarinder welcomed the CBI’s move to appeal against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s acquittal in a riots case. “Justice must be done and the guilty should be punished even if they belong to one’s own party,” he said.

On ticket allotment for the Assembly polls, he said the party could go for young candidates in at least 35 constituencies. He indicated that some sitting party MLAs might be dropped, depending on their winnability.

He announced that if the Congress was voted to power, all villages which had faced discrimination by the Akalis would get preference in the allocation of development grants.

PPCC chief meets Dhadrianwale

Patiala: Capt Amarinder Singh today met preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale at Gurdwara Parmeshar Dwar Sahib on the Patiala-Sangrur highway. The duo had a closed-door meeting during which they discussed law and order and other issues. This was Amarinder's first meeting with Dhadrianwale after the latter was attacked in Ludhiana in May. The Congress leader assured Dhadrianwale that his party was pursuing the case of the murderous assault and would ensure that the culprits were brought to book. TNS

Capt lends ear to city’s problems

Holds meeting with PPCC general secretary

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 9

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president and former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh held a special meeting with PPCC general secretary Harmander Singh Jassi in the city this morning.

In the meeting, Jassi discussed about the problems of the city, including the rainwater disposal and corruption.

Jassi said in the meeting that the SAD-BJP government had installed hoardings everywhere eulogising their achievements in the last nine years, but the ground reality is that till date the government was not able to make proper arrangements for the disposal of rainwater.

Jassi brought the problems of the trans-railway line area to the notice of Capt Amarinder Singh.

He said residents of these areas were deprived of basic amenities, including health facilities, bus service, petrol pump and fire station among others.

Capt Amarinder Singh made an assurance that if the Congress came to power then he would release maximum funds for the development of the city.

Capt Amarinder Singh said he knew that the city residents liked the Congress party a lot as two year ago, in the Lok Sabha elections, they made Badal bahu Harsimrat Kaur Badal trail by around 30,000 votes in the city.

Capt Amarinder Singh said the Congress party was always thankful to the people of the city and respected their feelings.

He assured that after coming to power, he would grant more funds to Bathinda than Patiala for its all-round development and the rainwater disposal problem would be resolved on priority basis.

Jassi handed over a list of seven officials, who were allegedly misusing their powers and also involved in corrupt practices, to Capt Amarinder Singh.

He said their attitude towards the Congress workers was biased.

Captain Amarinder Singh said strict action would be taken against officials found guilty if the Congress government formed government in the state.