The Punjab Congress on Wednesday condemned the "derogatory and arrogant" press statement of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal dubbing the Congress as a "dead party."
The Congress said the offensive language of the deputy CM, who had also stated that state party chief Partap Singh Bajwa was called in merely to light the funeral pyre of the Congress, "exposes the feudal, arrogant and power-drunken mindset of the junior Badal."
In a press statement, PPCC spokesperson Sukhpal Singh Khaira said the SAD-BJP victory in the block samiti and zila parishad elections was a "blood-laced questionable victory." He said: "It is for the first time that four political killings have taken place in Punjab, while the booths were captured… vehicles torched, with Akali goons ruling the roost with the open support of the police."
The Congress termed the entire election process a "farce, eyewash and murder of democracy." The spokesperson said the state election commissioner became a party to the "Akali-police conspiracy to rig the elections" and turned a complete blind eye towards all illegalities taking place under his nose.
"This victory is nothing but an abuse of power, misuse of police force and polluting the electoral process with money, muscle power and drugs," the Congress said.
Taking a strong exception to the SAD dubbing the Congress "a dead party", Khaira said: "If this is a measure of success or failure, then the junior Badal should explain whether the 'bhog' of the SAD was conducted by his father when they lost their security deposit in the 1989 parliamentary elections to Simranjit Singh Mann's party? Is it correct that the SAD boycotted the 1992 assembly elections due to fear of the gun?"
{{/usCountry}}Taking a strong exception to the SAD dubbing the Congress "a dead party", Khaira said: "If this is a measure of success or failure, then the junior Badal should explain whether the 'bhog' of the SAD was conducted by his father when they lost their security deposit in the 1989 parliamentary elections to Simranjit Singh Mann's party? Is it correct that the SAD boycotted the 1992 assembly elections due to fear of the gun?"
{{/usCountry}}The "junior Badal should realise" that although the Congress had lost these elections in 2008 as well, the party had defeated the SAD-BJP alliance in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Khaira said.