Punjab Congress to stand by Amarinder: Bhattal

Chandigarh, Apr 11 (UNI) The Punjab Congress will stand by all partymen, including former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, against whom the SAD-BJP government has slapped a case of corruption, a senior party leader said.

'' The state Congress is united and we are with the former Chief Minister'', former deputy chief minister and leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said here today.

Talking to mediapersons alongwith Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Shamsher Singh Dullo at the Congress Bhavan here, Mrs Bhattal however advised Capt Singh to make himself avaliable to the investigating agency that had registered the case against him and 17 others, including former minister Choudhary Jagjit Singh.

Earlier Mrs Bhattal and Mr Dullo unveiled the busts of former Prime Ministers, the late Mrs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and former Chief Minister Beant Singh at the Congress Bhavan.

Though the two leaders claimed unity in the rank and file of the party, but the absence of Capt Singh from the unveilng ceremony raised many eyebrows. The presence of Anti Terrorist Front Chairman and former Youth Congress chief Maninderjit Singh Bitta at the ceremony came as a surprise to many senior Congressmen.

When mediapersons asked Mr Bitta about his presence in the Congress Bhavan, he quipped, '' Capt Singh has gone, so i have come''. Mr Bitta has been a bitter critic of Capt Singh and had recently questioned the former Chief Minister's links with a Pakistani lady journalist of Pakistan.

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