Day after Gidderbaha bypoll result, Warring, Bittu engage in war of words

A day after the Gidderbaha bypoll result, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu engaged in a war of words.

A day after the Gidderbaha bypoll result, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu engaged in a war of words.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that Bittu took revenge on him by defeating the BJP in Gidderbaha, while Bittu said the people of Gidderbaha have sent “Raja’s rani back home”. Meanwhile, Manpreet said Warring has always criticised the dynasty politics of Badals but when he got the chance, he kept the ticket in his home. (ANI File)

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon defeated Congress candidate and Warring’s wife Amrita Warring by a margin of 21,969 votes in the Gidderbaha byelection. However, Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate and former minister Manpreet Singh Badal got only 12,227 votes and finished third.

Warring alleged that Bittu took revenge on him by defeating the BJP in Gidderbaha, while Bittu said the people of Gidderbaha have sent “Raja’s rani back home”. Meanwhile, Manpreet said Warring has always criticised the dynasty politics of Badals but when he got the chance, he kept the ticket in his home.

Bittu said, “Personally, Gidderbaha seat was a priority for me and especially defeating Raja Warring. He always raised the issue of dynasty politics and when the time came, he fielded his wife. I lost the Ludhiana Lok Sabha election by a margin of 20,000 votes in nine assembly segments, but Warring’s wife has lost by a margin of more than 20,000 votes from an assembly segment and that too her home turf. If a president fails to secure victory for his wife, he does not deserve to remain on the post and must resign immediately,” he said.

Earlier this year, Warring had defeated Bittu by 20,942 votes, which had necessitated the Gidderbaha bypoll.

In retaliation Warring said, “Bittu is a Union minister but what did he achieve? Did he take revenge on me by making AAP successful or by defeating Manpreet. He made derogatory statements, especially against the farmers during the campaigning. Bittu campaigned for 12 days in Gidderbaha and Manpreet got only 12,000 votes. He has got revenge on me by making AAP victorious, this reveals he is hand-in-glove with CM Bhagwant Mann.”

He said Bittu should introspect that despite his campaigning only 12,000 votes were polled in Gidderbaha to BJP. “Bittu was always against Manpreet and his statements caused decline in Manpreet’s campaign graph,” he added.

A day after the defeat, Manpreet on Sunday announced that he will contest the 2027 assembly elections from Gidderbaha.

Manpreet said “The result of the byelection did not come in our favour. I knew that three months would not be enough to refresh the old ties. Whenever I have faced defeat, I have introspected my mistakes and failures. In the next couple of months, I will correct my mistakes and try to turn this defeat into victory.”

“I want to tell Dimpy Dhillon do not to take this victory as a prize and instead see it as a test. You have promised to break all the records in the next two-and-a-half-year tenure,” he said.