Advising the BJP leader Arun Jaitley to stop cribbing and complaining, the former Chief Minister and Congress candidate from Amritsar Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday said that he should spell out his agenda for the holy city of Amritsar.

“So far, the only thing Jaitley has done is continuous cribbing and complaining about all those things that I did and particularly that I am not talking nicely to him,” he said in a statement. “Ideally a leader of Jaitley’s stature should not take such things to heart and feel demoralised as in politics, you are always confronted by such harsh realities which you do not encounter while making backdoor entries into the legislature,” he added.

Congress leader said that Jaitley must come out with his vision and agenda for the people of Amritsar, which happens to be the principal city of Punjab. “And I am sure that will generate a healthy debate which you have been desperately missing and complaining about all these days. Otherwise, so far, you have been in denial mode only by denying everything what I say,” he added. The former Chief Minister also asked Jaitley that the Amritsar would like to know whether he would give up his lucrative legal practice in the Supreme Court for which he requires to be in Delhi or not.

“As far as I know, you charge Rs 15 lakh per appearance. So people of Amritsar would like to know from you that in case you get elected from here, will you shift your base to this place and give up such a lucrative business in Delhi,” questioned Capt Amarinder. He added, “You and your Akali patrons and supporters have trumpeted many a dreams about you, with Parkash Singh Badal even going to the extent of declaring you as the future Deputy Prime Minister of the country although you may be nourishing different ambitions, while you yourself have kept quiet,” the Congress leader said.

Capt Amarinder also said that he would like to grant Jaitley his cherished wish of a healthy and sophisticated debate if only he comes out with healthy and sophisticated ideas and not those dictated to him by his Akali patrons who have done no good to any of the BJP leaders so far and if he has any doubts he could ask Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Cong wants to get rid of its bigwigs by forcing them to contest: Sukhbir

ludhiana: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday alleged that the Congress party had hatched a conspiracy to “get rid” of some of its “bigwigs” by fielding them in the upcoming lok Sabha elections from Punjab.

SAD president and Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal said that all senior Congress leaders contesting the polls “will face defeat”, and their political career would come to an end. He claimed that the SAD-BJP alliance would win all 13 lok Sabha seats in Punjab.

Congress has fielded former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh from Amritsar, former Union Minister Ambika Soni from Sri Anandpur Sahib and the leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Sunil Kumar Jakhar from Ferozepur. Sukhbir said that BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was the only hope for the country as only he could put the nation on path of development.

Meanwhile, Congress’s ludhiana district unit president Jagmohan Sharma on Sunday resigned from the party to join SAD. Sharma remained the president of Congress’s ludhiana District Unit (Urban) for 10 years.

Central funds responsible for Punjab’s development: singla

Sangrur: Sangrur Congress MP Vijay Inder Singla, who is seeking his re-election from the constituency, on Sunday claimed that Punjab’s development owes to the Central funds.

Singla also accused the SAD-BJP regime of bringing development activities to a grinding halt in Punjab which, he claimed, remained a leader State in the country for several decades. “Punjab had remained a source of inspiration for other states and its farmers made the country self-reliant in food… but with its seven years of malgovernance, the Akali-BJP alliance has brought the State to a grinding halt,” he said, while addressing election rallies.

He said: “The treasury is empty, no new industry is coming up and agriculture is under stress. Big industrialists are abandoning the State for lack of work culture and right infrastructure. The youths are getting misguided for want of employment and falling into drug traps.”

Singla has once again pitted against Rajya Sabha MP and SAD candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, besides Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) nominee Bhagwant Mann is also in the fray.

“Everybody knows that the State Government has no money to pay for its employees’ salaries and pensions, and pursuing a development agenda is a far-fetched dream today...Central funds and projects have largely come to the rescue of Punjab,” he said. He urged the people of Punjab to introspect within and not to let false propaganda of SAD-BJP alliance sway them. He said that it has become a habit of SAD leaders to blame the Central Government for Punjab’s ills.Singla claimed that the Punjab Government had not been accessing funds under more than 40 Central schemes.

Even significant funds available for providing interest subsidy on educational loans under a central scheme are not being accessed and the SAD-BJP alliance has been cheating the youth in securing a future for themselves, he alleged.

Defeat staring in the face makes Sukhbir panicky: Bajwa

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa on Sunday said that the defeat staring in his face had made the SAD president Sukhbir Badal panicky as he did not expect the main Opposition to pose such a tough challenge, perhaps toughest by the party in any State in the country, to the adversary and in this case the ruling dispensation.

“Sukhbir’s myth of being invincible in electoral battles would be shattered in this very lok Sabha election,” he added.

Bajwa said that Congress in Punjab was united like a rock under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to block the ascendency of communal forces symbolised by the Akali Dal-BJP alliance which posed a serious danger to the social fabric of the country.

The PPCC chief asserted that Congress was surging ahead in all 13 seats in the state due to party’s strategy of fielding all the top guns to destroy Akali Dal-BJP citadel which was already exhibiting chinks. “It might have come as a shock to the Deputy Chief Minister who is also the self-proclaimed commander-in-chief of the Akali-BJP combine that village after village in Bathinda lok Sabha constituency have started boycotting ruling party candidate Harsimrat Badal who was considered to be the strongest candidate being Sukhbir’s wife,” he said.

SAD(A) candidate from ludhiana withdraws from contest

ludhiana: Akali Dal (Amritsar) candidate for ludhiana lok Sabha seat Talib Singh Sandhu on Sunday surrendered his party ticket and announced his support to the SAD-BJP combine candidate Manpreet Singh Ayali.

The former MlA informed about his decision to party president Simranjit Singh Maan. later while speaking to the reporters, Sandhu said that he did want to fight against a person of Ayali’s stature who was known for his contribution to the Zila Parishad during his five-year tenure as its president.