Amarinder Warring hits out at AAP, vows to dismantle ‘sleeper cells’ of other parties in Congress

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Saturday hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led state government, terming chief minister Bhagwant Mann as “the most incompetent CM” in the state’s history.

Warrring, who along with senior Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) leaders addressed a rally in Sultanpur Lodhi, made a veiled attack on Congress’ Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh and vowed to dismantle the “sleeper cells” of other parties within the Congress.

Rana Gurjeet’s son, Inder Partap Singh, an independent MLA from Sultanpur Lodhi, held a parallel rally, a few kilometres from the Congress event. Rana Gurjeet, however, stayed away from his son’s event.

The PPCC managed to put up an impressive show, with former Sultanpur Lodhi MLA Navtej Singh Cheema, leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, Gurdaspur Member of Parliament Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and its secretary in-charge Ravindra Dalvi in attendance besides Warring.

Addressing the gathering, Warring said Punjab has been pushed into a “1984-like” situation with the state police calling the shots to muzzle democratic voices.

“Chief minister Bhagwant Mann will be known as the most incompetent and most inefficient chief minister in Punjab’s history due to complete lawlessness and unrest in the state. The incidents of hurling of hand grenades and the attack on the Ambedkar statue in Amritsar, are proof that Punjab is being pushed into the black era of 1984-1995 once again,” said Warring.

The PPCC chief further said traders, industrialists and leaders of opposition parties are receiving constant threats from gangsters.

LoP Bajwa also launched a scathing attack on the Punjab Police, stating that it has resorted to complete ‘gundaraj’.

“The whole of Punjab Police should be dismantled as it has become morally corrupt. The state police require an immediate overhaul. The campaign ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, launched by the state government is a farce as its own woman senior constable, who was in contact with senior police officials, was caught with heroin recently,” Bajwa said.

Former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, hinting at Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh, said, “Even Rahul Gandhi is aware of the few BJP sleeper cells within the Congress who consider themselves above the party. Being the in-charge of Rajasthan Congress, I have already initiated a cleanliness drive and shown the door to such sleeper cells there. I want similar action in Punjab too.”

At this, Warring said he would ensure that the “sleeper cells” of other parties within the Congress are dismantled.

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira demanded disciplinary action against Rana Gurjeet Singh for sabotaging the PPCC rally.

“He has been promoting BJP’s agenda of implementing a private market of crop, promising the farmers to buy kharif maize crop at minimum support price (MSP) for his ethanol industry,” said Khaira.

When contacted, Rana Gurjeet said, “Rana Inder Partap (his son) is an independent representative from Sultanpur Lodhi and has all rights to hold a rally.” On his absence from his son’s event, Rana Gurjeet said, “Since it was his political event, I wanted him to take charge. Thus, I informed him about my absence in advance.”

On why he wasn’t part of the PPCC rally, he said, “I didn’t get an invitation from the PPCC regarding its rally in Sultanpur Lodhi.”

Rana Inder Partap reiterates MSP on maize promise at his parallel rally

Meanwhile, Rana Inder Partap, at his rally attended by sitting sarpanches and municipal councillors, reiterated his father’s promise of buying a maize crop at MSP.

“You grow maize we will buy your crop at best price, this is our promise,” he said

He also said people of the constituency have not forgotten about the “misappropriation of funds”, allocated for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, by then Congress MLA.

He said funds to the tune of ₹220 crore, allocated by Government of India to Sultanpur Lodhi for smart city projects, lapsed before he was elected the MLA but he made efforts, met the ministers of the Government of India and managed to get allocations resumed.