Congress to give defeat Akalis : CM

Nadal, Punjab, Sep 16 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today claimed the Congress would retain power in Punjab by defeating Akalis in the forthcoming state elections.

''The Shiromani Akali Dal will face a drubbing at the hands of the Congress because Akali party's chief Parkash Singh Badal has had miserably failed in brining overall development in the state as well as in pursuing the religious agenda of the Sikh panth despite being the Punjab Chief Minister for three times,'' Capt Singh said while addressing a massive public rally here.

A day after facing allegations of corruption, levelled by the opposition Akali-BJP MLAs in the state assembly yesterday, he said Mr Badal had ''looted'' the public exchequer for his own political and vested interests during all his three tenures as the state chief minister''.

Expressing anguish over the unruly scenes created by the opposition in the assemby, Capt Singh said that it depicted ''the sheer frustration amongst the Akalis''.

He said yesterday's unruly behavior in the Punjab Vidhan was at the behest of Sukhbir Badal and that it was a stage managed show as the opposition was running away from the debate on development by deliberately evading it.

''The father-son duo (Badals) did nothing except exploiting the people of the region for their political motives and amassed ill-gotten wealth disproportionate to their known sources,'' the CM said.

Capt Singh said that he was confident that one day Mr Badal would be convicted for his ''misdeeds'' as his case was on regular hearing in the Supreme Court and he was sure that the senior Akali leader would have to face the trail at the lower court.

Bashing the Akalis, the chief minister asked the people to do soul searching to ascertain what Akalis had done in the name of development during their regime.

Mr Badal pushed Punjab backward to the 18th century on all fronts during his previous regims, while the present Congress government was committed to take the state towards 21st century, Mr Singh alleged.

''The Akalis are neck deep in corruption and exploiting the religious sentiments of the people in the name of 'panth' (Sikh community) just to woo the voters,'' he added.

Mr Singh said Mr Badal had already faced the consequences of the discussion on terrorism and this time he could not dare the same on development because he had nothing to say on this subject except indulging in hooliganism that was unbecoming of a seasoned politician like him who had been in Vidhan Sabha since 1957.

UNI PS PA KP1947