Cong hell bent upon vitiating Punjab's peaceful atmosphere:BJP

Chandigarh, Nov 10: Punjab BJP today accused the Congress of being "hell bent" upon vitiating the peaceful atmosphere of the state and said it was exposed after some party leaders attended a Sikh congregation (Sarbat Khalsa) held at Amritsar.

The BJP Punjab unit took strong exception to Congress MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki, former MLA Inderjit Singh Zira and several others attending the congregation held at Amritsar today. State party president Kamal Sharma condemned the Congress and said Sikki addressing the gathering at congregation has once again exposed the entire Congress party and its divisive policies, he said in a statement issued here.

"It is known to everyone that in the 80's, Congress party played a despicable role vis-a-vis Punjab, which resulted in unrest and turmoil in the state for more than two decades. Just to grab the power, Congress has been playing dirty politics in Punjab from past more than three decades and now again, the actions of Congress clearly reflects that it was hell bent upon vitiating the peaceful atmosphere of the state," Sharma stated.

Taking a dig at Congress president and vice-president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi respectively, Sharma questioned how come any party legislator attend the congregation without a nod from the party leadership.

"Without any delay, Sonia and Rahul, must clarify the party's official stand on this highly sensitive and crucial matter," demanded BJP chief. Arguing that 'Sarbat Khalsa' was called to discuss the religious issues, the BJP president said Congress leaders Amarinder Singh and Pratap Singh Bajwa had been consistently saying for the past few days that 'Sarbat Khalsa' was a religious affair and Congress being a secular party has nothing to do with it. But now they should come out and clarify their so called secular credentials, they said.

PTI