Joining Congress is ‘home-coming’ for me: Sidhu

Enthused by cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu joining the party, a fired up Congress yesterday announced that its state president Amarinder Singh would take on Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in the latter’s traditional assembly seat of Lambi.
The Congress also announced that its Lok Sabha MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Singh Bittu, who is a grandson of former chief minister Beant Singh, will contest against Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal from Jalalabad.
Congress Party leader Asha Kumari told reporters in New Delhi yesterday that the party has cleared the names of Amarinder and Bittu for the two seats.
She said that Sidhu, a four-time former Bharatiya Janata Party MP, would contest from the Amritsar-East assembly seat.
Sidhu told reports in New Delhi yesterday that “joining the Congress is home-coming” for him and that he was a “born Congressman”.
With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is challenging the Akali Dal-BJP alliance and Congress in Punjab, already having announced its Sangrur Lok Sabha MP Bhagwant Mann and Delhi lawmaker Jarnail Singh to take on the Badals from Lambi and Jalalabad, the contest for these seats is poised to be a high stakes affair.
Describing Lambi as his “karam bhoomi” (place of action) from where he would “teach the Badals a lesson for the savagery and atrocities they had unleashed on the people of Punjab over the past 10 years”, Amarinder Singh said he would get all cases of religious sacrilege thoroughly investigated and punish the Badals if found guilty.
Addressing a rally at Chamkaur Sahib, 50km from here, the former chief minister said his traditional assembly seat Patiala – which he is contesting again – was his `janambhoomi’ (birthplace) to which he owed his emotional roots.
But he has “chosen Lambi as my karambhoomi since I owed it to the people of Punjab to teach the Badals a lesson for all their crimes and misdeeds.”
He said “the Badals have spent the past 10 years bolstering their family interests, with all the key businesses in the state owned by them and the Akali-patronised mafia ruling Punjab.”
Amarinder asked Chief Minister Badal where he would take all the wealth he had accumulated.
He criticised the AAP leadership, particularly Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, for “their attempts to unleash anarchy in the state to promote their personal interests at the cost of the interests of the Punjabis”.
Taking a snipe at Kejriwal’s attempts to project himself as a Sikh Punjabi by trying to wear a turban during his public meetings and rallies, Amarinder warned the people against being taken in by his “frivolous gimmicks”.
“He’s a liar out to snatch power in Punjab and become the chief minister of the state,” Amarinder said.
The AAP hit back saying Amarinder Singh was also contesting from Lambi to help Badal senior win.
Amarinder Singh had “stabbed the people of Punjab in the back” by saying he would contest from Lambi besides his own traditional seat Patiala, Kejriwal said.
He said there had been a “deal” between Amarinder Singh and Badal and so the Congress leader had announced his candidature from Lambi so as to cut anti-Akali votes and thus help Badal win.
Kejriwal demanded to know why Amarinder was contesting from two assembly seats and why he was challenging Badal directly now when he had never done so in any election.
“Once everyone realised that Jarnail Singh’s campaign was going great, Badal requested Amarinder Singh to contest from Lambi too so that the anti-Akali votes get divided,” the AAP leader said.
Calling the Amarinder Singh-Badal fight a “friendly match”, he said: “Jarnail Singh will win no matter what in Lambi... And you will be ousted in such a manner that you will remember for the rest of your life.”
Elections to 117 assembly seats in Punjab will be held on February 4.
The main contest is between the ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance, which has been in power in Punjab since 2007, the Congress and the AAP.