Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday hailed the “unprecedented” Congress victory in Gurdaspur bye-election as a total rejection of anti-people policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), saying that the victory margin of 1.9 lakh votes was “not much behind” his estimate of two-lakh votes.
“Massive win for Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar shows the people’s complete denunciation of the corrupt and immoral BJP and SAD,” said Capt Amarinder, adding that it also underlined the political annihilation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state.
Capt Amarinder, who said that he was humbled by the faith reposed in the Congress candidate, thanked the voters of Gurdaspur for their overwhelming love and support from all parts of Gurdaspur, especially the rural areas.
“Over 1.93 lakh margin of victory has not only more than compensated for 1.36 lakh vote defeat of Congress candidate Pratap Singh Bajwa against BJP’s Vinod Khanna in 2014 but has surpassed even 1.51 lakh lead by which Congress’ Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder had won in 1980,” said Capt Amarinder.
Jakhar’s victory comes as a strong rebuttal to the persistent Akali efforts and campaign of the past six months to undermine the work being done by his government in the state, he added.
For AAP, this election marks the end of its political ambitions in Punjab, Capt Amarinder said, pointing out that the dissolution of Pathankot and Gurdaspur units of AAP a day before the declaration of the results showed that the party had conceded defeat and had accepted that it had completely failed to connect with the people of the state.
Dubbing BJP’s “moral bankruptcy” and party’s total failure at the Centre as the key factors behind the crushing defeat of its candidate Sarwan Singh Salaria, Capt Amarinder said that people wanted development, which only the Congress could give them.
“People are completely aware of the welfare initiatives taken by the Congress government since taking over the state’s reins in March this year,” he said, adding that they had full faith in the government’s commitment to their progress.
Both the BJP-SAD and AAP had stooped to the lowest levels in their brazen attempts to mislead the people with their false propaganda against the Congress government, Capt Amarinder pointed out. It was evident that these parties failed to learn their lessons despite the fact that such cheap tactics did not succeed in voting them to power in the Assembly polls earlier this year, he added.
While SAD went all out to deceive the people with its false statements on various issues, especially farm loan waiver, AAP once again resorted to street politics and theatrics in a desperate bid to grab the seat, Captain Amarinder said. The fact that both the parties suffered crushing defeat showed that the people of Gurdaspur had the maturity to distinguish right from wrong and trusted the Congress to lead them out of the depths of miseries into which they had been pushed by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government, he added.
Capt Amarinder also came down heavily on BJP and AAP for their personal attacks on Jakhar, who they tried to project as an ‘outsider’ all through the campaign, without, however, making any dent in his clean image and sincere commitment.
Describing Jakhar as an ideal representative to raise the voice of the people of Gurdaspur in the Parliament, Capt Amarinder assured the people of Gurdaspur that all promises made to them by the Congress MP would be fulfilled.
Capt Amarinder said that Gurdaspur result once again showed that the Congress was on the path of revival across the country. “Party’s recent victory in several university students’ union elections and its resounding win in the Maharashtra civic polls just two days ago were clear indicators that the party’s fortunes are on the upswing and the result of the Gurdaspur bypoll further strengthened its prospects for the 2019 lok Sabha elections,” he added.
Big slap on Jija-Sala’s face: Sidhu
Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said: “This win is a big slap on the face of jija-sala (Sukhbir Badal-Bikram Majithia). Today, the BJP will feel that the Akali Dal in Punjab, especially the jija-sala, have become a burden”.
“Time and again, people have reprimanded them and sent them back,” he said, adding that the Akalis were like an albatross around the BJP’s neck.
“This win is not small, this is huge. When a (cricket) team loses by five runs or by a narrow margin, it still stands up to put a fight in another contest. But when somebody loses by 400 runs or suffers an innings defeat, it breaks the back. It is an innings defeat for them (SAD-BJP combine). It is a demoralising defeat for them, it has sent them packing,” he said.
Congress rigged elections: Salaria
The SAD-BJP combine candidate and senior BJP leader Swaran Salaria on Sunday accused the ruling Congress of rigging in the elections. Salaria said that because of the its government in the state, the Congress has misused the power. “Congress has rigged to influence the outcome of the bye-election,” he added.