AMRITSAR: The hot seat of Lambi in Muktsar district, the constituency of five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and a traditional Akali stronghold could witness the mother of all battles in the Punjab assembly elections with state Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday announcing his intention of taking on senior Badal in his territory.
Addressing the media in Amritsar on Saturday, Amarinder said he would seek the nod from the party high command to contest against the SAD patron. The former CM had earlier contested and won from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat against Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in 2014. Amarinder told newspersons said he was prepared to challenge Badal senior from the Lambi seat with the aim of decimating the top Akali leadership. "To defeat Badals, I am ready to take on Parkash Singh Badal on his turf," he said, while alleging that the top Akali leadership was responsible for destroying the youth of Punjab and turning them into drug addicts.
A dope test should be done. You will know. Everybody knows he stinks like a brewery. Of late, he has stopped drinking because of the smell. He takes some drug instead. He sways when he stands. Everyone knows that. He would have been beaten up at the bhog ceremony of the Behbal Kalan firing victims, where he came drunk, had I not been there.
Why did you protect him then?
Being state head of the party — I believed it was akin to being father of a family. I, too, should be punished for protecting him. He dreams of being the Chief Minister. Have you seen any drug addict becoming the CM?
Who will be the AAP’s
CM candidate? Was it ever discussed within the party?
They never trusted me and did not discuss it with me either. Mann is the main aspirant.
Who “blocked” Navjot Singh Sidhu’s entry into AAP?
Mann did. The day he resigned from the Rajya Sabha, Mann was in Delhi and panicked at the news. He thought they (AAP) were planning to bring Sidhu into the fold. He told me that we have been working hard for Punjab and when it came to reaping the benefits they are bringing in Sidhu. He told me Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak had gone to prepare Sidhu’s arrival. Mann managed to block Sidhu later. I can go to a gurdwara and swear that this is true.
