Patiala royal Capt Amarinder Singh is all set to hold Barnalas' banner in the run up to Dhuri by-elections.
The former Chief Minister on Thursday announced that he will be visiting the constituency, along with the party MlAs, to campaign for the party candidate Simar Partap Singh Barnala, the grandson for former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala.
At the same time, he attacked his bête noire and the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa for “creating confusion” in the party.
"Our difference is not with the young boy…I have good relations with his family. We would be there to campaign for him on April 6 and 8," said Capt Amarinder. The Dhuri elections are scheduled to be held on April 11.
"I and other Congress MlAs will aggressively campaign for Dhuri bye-elections…We are going on 6 and 8…Kewal Singh Dhillon (Barnala MlA) will be the poll campaign in-charge…he has talked to them," said Capt Amarinder.
The development assumes significance as Capt Amarinder, along with his coterie including 35 MlAs, had announced to walked out of the campaign in Dhuri after Bajwa appointed a campaign in-charge parallel to Capt Amarinder's nominee.
"The problem came after I have been asked to name in-charge. I asked Kewal, he refused, I asked lal Singh, he also declined. Then I asked should we send Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, they approved. And then, Bajwa announced Vijay Inder Singla's name. How will this functionIJ" said Capt Amarinder.
Capt Amarinder pointed that always one man run the show. "You cant have two generals…Bajwa is creating confusion. What's the point in naming another when one is already appointed," he asked Bajwa while that all should be brought along for aggressive campaigning.
Congress Deputy leader in the lok Sabha asserted that he has already reported the issue of "confusion" created by Bajwa to the party high command. "Sonia Gandhi has not asked me to join the campaign but others have. We are joining the because of her as Simar is her nomination and we have decided to support him," he said.
Capt Amarinder said that Bajwa is running his own campaign. "There is nobody with Bajwa except his wife."
Till date, no senior Congress leader except Bajwa and Singla, have been seen campaigning in Dhuri.
The battle for supremacy between Capt Amarinder and Bajwa seems to be making the battle for Dhuri tough for Barnalas. The two leaders with their respective supporters came together the day Simar filed his nominations. Five days later, it was back to square one.
The two top leaders of the state party unit declared an open war against each other. Simar is contesting polls on Congress' election symbol. The situation, on the other hand, has sent alarm bells ringing in the Barnala camp.
However, the Barnalas were hopeful that "family ties" would over power the Patiala Royal, and he would join the campaign. "We would be campaigning aggressively with Simar," said Capt Amarinder on Thursday.
Regarding possibility of winning elections, senior Congress leader said that it was little difficult to defeat the candidate of ruling party in by-election as the government use police and administrative machinery.
"But, I believe the works done by former MlA Arvind Khanna, through his NGO Umeed, would help," he said.