Nangal (Roop Nagar), August 7
Congress general secretary and in charge of Punjab, Bhupesh Baghel today said that the Bharatiya Janta Party had started feeling nervous over the massive response Congress was getting and that is the reason it had opened communication channels with the Shiromani Akali Dal for a possible alliance in the state.
Addressing the ‘Harr booth, Congress mazboot’ programme here today, Baghel pointed out, union Home Minister Amit Shah had asserted during his visit to Punjab that the BJP will fight the elections on its own without any alliance. “But after seeing the massive response that the Congress is getting, the BJP has become nervous and has already started negotiations with the Akalis”, he observed.
Referring to today’s meeting between the Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, he pointed out, so far the BJP was simply avoiding the Akalis, but now the party has felt the pinch and seems to be making way for an alliance.
The former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said that not only the BJP and the Akalis, even the Aam Aadmi Party had started feeling nervous. He said, the AAP knows it that it is on the way out as people of Punjab are completely disillusioned with the government.
He noted, now that the people of Punjab had tried the Akali-BJP and the AAP, they have realized that only the Congress can provide a stable and people friendly government.
Speaking on the occasion, the PCC president said that if the party allowed, he would like to contest against the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann so that he will make him realizes about the ground realities in Punjab.
He said, Punjab was being looted by the AAP for elections in Gujarat and Goa. He said, it is the hard earned money of the Punjabis that is being splurged on advertisements in far off lands like Goa and Gujarat. He said, this must stop at the earliest.
He pointed out, the Bhagwant Mann government had taken the total debt amount to over Rs4.5 lakh crores and none of it was being spent in Punjab for development. He said, this all money was going to Delhi, Goa and Gujarat. “We will not let the AAP to fight Gujarat and Goa elections with Punjab’s money”, he warned.
Speaking on the occasion, senior Congress leader and former Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Rana KP Singh said, the writing was on the wall and the Congress was set to form the government and no power on earth can stop it.
Among those present included Ravi Dalvi, Suraj Thakur, Sukhminder Danny, Balbir Si,ngh Sidhu and others.