'Keep out of Congress Affairs', Captain to Khaira
Categorically denying the opposition leader’s charge of appointment of a `halqa-in-charge’ at Bholath, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday warned AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira against any attempt to interfere in the Congress affairs. The Chief Minister flayed Khaira’s criticism of the Congress decision to entrust Khadoor Sahib MLA Ramanjeet Sikki with the task of strengthening the party’s base in Bholath assembly constituency, which Khaira had ruined for the Congress. Khaira, now the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, had destroyed the Bholath seat for the Congress, on whose ticket he had contested the seat, said the Chief Minister, adding that Sikki was a competent man well qualified to restore the party’s position in the constituency. Sikki was not, by any stretch of imagination, a `halqa-in-charge’, as Khaira was trying to project in order to mislead the people of the constituency. Khaira evidently did not know the difference between a `halqa-in-charge’ – a concept fostered by the Akalis to the detriment of the state and its people, and an elected represented appointed for uplifting the Bholath constituency, the Chief Minister observed in a statement issued here. In any case, it was an internal matter of the Congress, which had full faith in Sikki’s competence and integrity, as well as his commitment to the welfare of the people, Captain Amarinder said, asking Khaira to keep out of the Congress affairs and focus on the uplift of his own beleaguered party. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was losing ground across the country and with people like Khaira at its helm, it will soon be wiped out off the political landscape not just of Punjab but the entire country, the Chief Minister said. -PTC News
