MP Sukhdev Dhindsa
Chandigarh, December 15, 2016: For a change, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh has made an honest confession that he had been poaching on other parties as the Congress had no candidates to be fielded in some constituencies.
Stating this here today, spokesman of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Dhindsa said that Amarinder Singh offered it as raison d’etre for pushing the names of some of his pickups for rival political parties.
“ If there is dearth of good candidates, it seriously reflect on Amarinder functioning as he had been party chief for couple of years. Also it reveals the sorry state of affairs in Congress- a party of 130 years of history - which is at present bankrupt of candidates “, averred Dhindsa.
In fact, senior party colleagues from Punjab like Ambika Soni had confronted him for insisting that the turncoats be given party nominations arguing that those who had enjoyed the spoils of power for nine period years and have joined Congress on poll eve. In fact, some senior Congress leaders had proposed a cooling of couple of years for the new entrants before allotting them the party tickets.
Dhindsa said that Amarinder Singh is caught in cleft between the turn coats who had been lured to the party fold on promise of party ticket and the loyal party activists aspiring for ticket. Such aspirants have now the backing of the senior party leaders like Soni and of rank and file of the party too in their respective constituencies.
Pargat Singh( Jalandhar Cant ): Mahesh Inder Singh (Bagha Purana) and Rajwinder Kaur ( Nihalsinghwala) and Swaran Singh Phillaur are hot contenders for the Congress tickets.
“Amarinder’s predicament is that if these are denied tickets, they would revolt and enter fray as independents. But if they are accommodated, the loyal Congress workers would enter the race as rebel candidates”, averred Dhindsa.
In fact, Amarinder is keen to filed his own men whether from the party or from without so that there is no threat to his claim to the top slot in the party and in the government which he is dreaming of after the polls, added Dhindsa.
Anyway, the distribution of ticket would trigger revolt albeit at constituency level at number of places, predicted Dhindsa adding that the delay in distribution of tickets as the party is trying to avert this catastrophic development.