Soon after Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh expressed his interest in contesting against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the septuagenarian Badal said he would not mind taking on its national vice president Rahul Gandhi in lambi in the coming elections.
Talking to reporters on Saturday, he said no matter whom the Congress fields against him, it would hardly change its fortunes. Refusing to comment on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Jarnail Singh’s fate, he said the election results would explain everything.
Kick starting election campaign in the Doaba region by holding a rally in favour of SAD candidate Surinder Singh Bhulewal Rathan in the grain market, Badal made a vitriolic attack on the Congress’s first family. He said the Gandhis hated people of Punjab. “They cannot stand Punjabis at all”, he remarked. Accusing the Congress of trying to push Punjab back in to the days of militancy, he cautioned people not to vote for it.
He said what Congress did to Punjab in the eighties, AAP was bent on doing now.
“AAP has aligned with the radicals to destabilise the State. They are resorting to hooliganism which is very condemnable”, he said. If people wanted peace and harmony, they must vote for the SAD-BJP alliance, he said.
Terming AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal an “enemy of Punjab and Punjabis”, he asked him why he had not taken any Punjabi in his ministry. “In Punjab too he is promoting outsiders and if a local leader raises his head, he is shown the door”, he said.