Captain isolated in Cong, says Bhattal - Hindustan Times
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Captain isolated in Cong, says Bhattal

Hindustan Times | By, Jalandhar
Jan 19, 2014 11:08 PM IST

The Punjab Congress is stronger since proposing a CBI inquiry into the drug racket but taking the opposite view has made former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh feeble politically, senior party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has said.

The Punjab Congress is stronger since proposing a CBI inquiry into the drug racket but taking the opposite view has made former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh feeble politically, senior party leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has said.

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The demand to bring in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the charges of drug lord Jagdish Bhola against revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia united the state Congress, Bhattal said here on Sunday. "Amarinder di te hun phook hi nikal gyi hai (Amarinder is deflated now). He stands isolated," she replied when asked if Captain's comment would not weaken the party's stand.

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Bhattal described it a befitting reply to Captain from the party's grassroots workers who had endorsed the demand during the January 14 Maghi Mela rally in Muktsar. "They had all raised their hands against Captain's stand," the former CM added.

She also claimed that even Amarinder's loyalists, including leaders from his Patiala Urban constituency and his coterie in the Majha region, had opposed his views. She declined to name the leaders.

When asked why she was not pressing for her candidature from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, the Lehra MLA said, "I am a single lady now and there are certain issues in my family. That is why I have explained to the party high command that I wont be able to give much time to the party in Delhi, that is needed to be spent by any parliamentarian during the House sessions."

When asked if she could "spare time" if she got the chance to become the Punjab chief minister in future, the former CM said, "Punjab is a very small state and it is very easy to go from one district to another. But as an MP, you have to be in Delhi, which I cannot do."

Bhattal's political opponent and People's Party of Punjab (PPP) leader Bhagwan Mann, who had lost to her in the 2012 assembly polls, termed her reason for not contesting the Lok Sabha polls as hilarious.

"Let us investigate the record of the Punjab Bhawan in Delhi, I am sure Bhattal will be the only state Congress leader who is found quite often in Delhi. Often you read in newspapers that Bhattal met the party high command in Delhi, sometimes against Amarinder and on many occasions against Partap Singh Bajwa," he said.

"Actually, Bhattal does not want to contest from Sangrur as she is sure of defeat," he added.

'Congress united on CBI probe demand'

If Majithia is clean, why Akalis have been afraid of CBI inquiry, says Bhattal
Ludhiana: Former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said if cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia was not involved in drug peddling, then why was he afraid of a CBI inquiry.

She added that the entire Congress was united over the demand for a CBI inquiry.

Bhattal was here on Sunday to pay tributes to Shaheed Joginder Pal Pandey on his death anniversary.
She said the Congress would contest the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab on its own. She added that the Aam Aadmi Party could not affect the Congress in the state.

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