Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lashed out at Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy CM Sukhbir Badal for "unleashing a reign of terror in Talwandi Sabo to win the byelection by hook or crook and claim it to be their great victory."
"How great this victory is everybody knows across Punjab," he said, adding that what Badals did at Talwandi Sabo on August 21 used to happen in Bihar a long time ago.
"Instead of gloating over a stage-managed victory, he (CM) should apologise to the people of Punjab for hijacking the electoral process to effect a predetermined and predefined result there," suggested Amarinder.
Reacting to Badal's statement that the byelection result had shown that the Congress was on the decline, the former CM retorted, "The Congress was never on the decline in Punjab and will never ever be," reminding Badal that the Patiala byelection result would mark the beginning of the end for the Akalis the same ways the Adampur byelection started their countdown in 1999.
He said although the Badals tried to do the same thing in Patiala as they did in Talwandi Sabo, the entire Congress rank and file, including party MLAs and senior leaders, stayed put and ensured that nothing wrong was allowed to happen.
{{/usCountry}}He said although the Badals tried to do the same thing in Patiala as they did in Talwandi Sabo, the entire Congress rank and file, including party MLAs and senior leaders, stayed put and ensured that nothing wrong was allowed to happen.
{{/usCountry}}"If you were so confident about your popularity, then why did you need to fortify Talwandi Sabo with men, muscle and money," he asked the Badals, while referring to the abuse of power, authority, money and muscle power in Talwandi Sabo to get a pre-decided result.
"The very margin of victory shows how much abuse of power was done in Talwandi Sabo," Amarinder said.