With the Khadoor Sahib Assembly bypolls expected to set the tone for the Assembly elections in the state early next year, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday said development would win over falsehood and non performance in the forthcoming bypoll as well as in 2017.
Addressing a gathering of senior leaders including Cabinet Ministers, legislators, district president’s as well as block level office bearers of the party, Badal urged party workers to elect SAD candidate Ravinder Singh Brahmpura to the State Assembly by a margin of 50,000 votes. “The SAD won the Talwandi Sabo bypoll by a margin of 38,000 votes. I am sure we will exceed this figure in Khadoor Sahib”, he added.
Asserting that the villages of Punjab were poised for massive development in the next six months, the SAD president said as much as Rs 10,000 crore was being spent on this task.”Never has so much development taken place in rural areas as during SAD- BJP rule”, he said.
On the next assembly polls in Punjab, he said while the Congress would be the main opposition, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was already running away from the race. He said the manner in which AAP was running away from contesting the Khadoor Sahab by poll was indicative of its electoral
confidence. “A party which
cannot even dare to put up a candidate for a by poll cannot even dream of wresting power in the State,” he added.
Replying to media querries later, the SAD president said it was very clear that Manpreet Badal had joined the Congress because he realised the PPP had no future in Punjab politics. He said it was however unfortunate that he had chosen to join a party which had always acted against the interests of Punjabis and Punjab.
Badal also announced that the party’s grass root structure including the scheduled caste,
backward class, farmer and women’s wings would be announced within two months.
The SAD president also detailed the contributions made to the party by senior leader and MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura. He said the senior leader had spent his life for the area and would continue to serve the people of the region. He also disclosed that the party had decided to give the ticket to Ravinder
Singh Brahmpura because of his dedication to the people of this constituency.
Senior party leader and Education minister Daljit Singh Cheema assigned duties to the party rank and file on the occasion and enjoined them to follow the model code of conduct scrupulously.
The by-elections to the Khadoor Sahib Assembly constituency was necessitated following the resignation by Congress MlA Ramanjit Singh Sikki in October last year in protest against desecration of Sikh holy book-Guru Granth Sahib.
The elections will be held on February 13. The last date for filing nominations is January 28 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is January 30.