CM's Vikas Yatra to continue in phases till elections

Rama, Moga, Nov 10 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today said his Punjab Vikas Yatra would continue in phases till the state assembly elections due in three months from now.

This was announced by the Chief Minister here on the third day of the 'vikas yatra' which, he said, had got tremendous response from the people of the state.

''This yatra will now be extended to the urban areas after it has got a very warm reception by the enthusiastic people at different places in the rural areas,'' Capt Singh told reporters.

The entire Nihalsinghwala belt, an Akali bastion, was covered by the Chief Minister in his open jeep as he waived to the ruralites and shook hands with them with a smiling face.

At Rama village, the Chief Minister was garlanded by the local Congress leaders, who praised Capt Singh as the ''best Chief Minister Punjab ever had''.

The Chief Minister today covered about 34 km of Nihalsinghwala constituency in two and half hours along with Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Shamsher Singh Dullo and his ministerial colleagues Avtar Henry, Jagjit Singh Randhawa, Ashwani Sekhri and Hansraj Joshan.

Capt Singh, seeing the mood of the people in this Akali dominated constituency, asserted that he had no second thought about the Congress retaining power with a thumping majority in the state.

Lambasting the Akalis, the Chief Minister refuted the claim of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) of having a mass support in rural areas and blamed them for misguiding the innocent Punjabis by false propaganda through media advertisements.

UNI XC PS SHB PM1816