Rivals in Punjab Congress, former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and PCC president Partap Singh Bajwa, entered into a verbal duel in front of Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi here.
As Captain Amrinder Singh intentionally left out the name of Bajwa in his address, Vijay Inder Singla MP from Sangrur interrupted him and asked that he forgot the name of Bajwa on stage, Amrinder justified saying he forgot it. However, when Bajwa’s turn to address the gathering came, he protested politely on this issue and said that “Capt. Amrinder Ji you may forget your younger brother’s name in your address but I will not”.
Bajwa also reacted on the language used by Amrinder against Shiromani Akali Dal that ‘now the time has come to lay them’, Bajwa said, “It is easy to say that we should lay them but before doing it, we should unite”, he added. Both Capt Amarinder and Bajwa had been on loggerheads ever since the latter took over the reins of Punjab Congress from the former Patiala Maharaja.
Taking a dig at Capt Amarinder from the state, Bajwa said time has not come to lay them as yet, as unity is more important. “let us win all the 13 seats out of 13, opposition will automatically teach the lesson”, commented Bajwa. In perhaps a lighter vein, Bajwa said that “whisky (liquor) was creating huge nuisance across the state and and ruining the youth. When Congress comes to power, it will ban whisky across the State”. Bajwa said that in Punjab there are 12,700 villages as compared to 15000 wine shops. It should be banned, he reiterated.
Rahul Gandhi came late in the rally
Rahul Gandhi was supposed to reach rally venue at 12 noon but he came at 1.30 pm. In his speech, he excused for being late adding that it was due to bad weather. “Earlier I was supposed to come by plane to Patiala but due to bad weather I had to go to Chandigarh first then I came here, he added.
Rahul honoured with Turban, Phulkari, Kirpan
As the function started, Rahul Gandhi was honoured with pink coloured turban by state congress president Partap Singh Bajwa, followed by Phulkari by former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and kirpan by Vijay inder Singla, MP of Sangrur.
Amrinder aggressive in his speech
Former Chief Minister Capt Amrinder Singh appeared more aggressive in his speech in the Sangrur rally. He said Punjab is suffering a lot due to drugs adding that 50 percent poor boys are indulging in intoxication and if it continued, one generation of this state will be completely wiped out. “Eh jihreh faneh khan bane firde han inhan nu chuk ke bahar sut diyange” (we will throw them out who are considering themselves big), he said.
Health minister Gulam Nabi Azad refutes allegations
Azad refuted allegations leveled by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for not inviting him in the function. “I personally requested director PGI to invite Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for inauguration of the satellite centre of PGI six days ago and I personally invited Badal ji on telephone and said that we are organizing a party function at Sangrur,” he claimed.