"Bathinda is Amarinder's Waterloo:" Sukhbir
"Kis ne kis nu maanja laya, oh dekh lavey"

SAD PRESIDENT PREDICTS 'POLITICAL IMPLOSION IN PUNJAB CONGRESS FOLLOWING RESULTS


Chandigarh May 16

The Shiromani Akali Dal president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal today predicted "a political implosion" in the Punjab unit of the Congress party following the results of the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
In a statement here, Mr. Badal also said that the election results had signalled an ignominious demise of the political career of Captain Amarinder Singh. "Amarinder met his Waterloo in Bathinda and the result sheet here would go down in history as his political obituary," said the Deputy Chief Minister, adding that it was Captain Singh himself who had boastfully staked his future on the outcome of his Bathinda mis-adventure. "During the election campaign, Amarinder had repeatedly declared that he would accept the result of the Bathinda poll as a referendum on whom the people of Punjab wanted to see as their leadersv- the Badals or the ex-Patiala Royals. Now that the mandate is in, Amarinder should display political and moral courage to quit politics, pack up his bags and proceed on a pleasure haunt abroad which he so much loves doing," said Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The Deputy CM also chided the Captain asking him to explain who had rubbed whom into the dust ( Kis ne kis nu maanja laya hai, oh dekh lave." )
Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal further said that the Congress party in Punjab was like an endangered species moving fast towards its extinction. "A large number of its legislators and leaders were already in touch with us for some kind of a political arrangement through which they could quit the party without inviting action under the provisions of the anti-defection law. The only thing that stands between an imminent Congress split and its survival now is the refusal of the Chief Minister Mr. Badal to push matters to the extreme. The Congress leaders should be thankful to him for that," said Mr. Sukhbir Singh.
He said that at present the Congress in Punjab was nothing but a top-heavy rag tag of disgruntled leaders whose sole claim to political relevance was the number of abuses they hurled at us. 'But their flock has already deserted them. And after these results, these leaders are already sniping at each other, as was evident from the interventions of Mr. Lal Singh at Amarinder's press conference in Chandigarh today' said Mr. Badal.
The SAD president further said that he was happy that the people had rejected the Amarinder brand of politics and had chosen to endorse the development agenda of the SAD-BJP government, "exhorting us at the same time to get ahead with the various projects to put the state on the fast track to world-class growth and all round development. "We are aware that the people of the state want us to push even harder towards the goals of development. They know that only the SAD-BJP alliance would display the requisite commitment, energy and drive to fulfill the various dreams of the people for a modern Punjab where poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and socio-economic backwardness would be tackled on a war footing. The election results are a clear signal that the blue print for growth presented by us has found the popular acceptance and yet we need to move forward with a greater speed," said Mr. Badal.
The Deputy CM further said that many of the development projects started by the SAD-BJP government required a certain gestation period and the people of the state were fully aware of that. The power projects, already started, for example would take three years or so to start translating potential into performance. But the people have shown requisite patience as they knew that once these projects get in full steam, power cuts would be reduced to a thing of the past ,"said Mr. Badal.