E-Paper
Tarn Taran bypoll: Congress launches campaign, hopes voters will defeat divisive forces
The Congress launched Karanbir Singh Burj's candidacy for the Tarn Taran bypoll, emphasizing the need to combat divisive forces in Punjab. Voting is on November 11.
The Congress on Saturday launched the campaign of its candidate Karanbir Singh Burj for the Tarn Taran assembly bypoll, with party leaders warning that divisive forces were trying to push Punjab once again towards an era of death, destruction and darkness.
The bypoll has been necessitated by the death of ruling party’s MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal in June. The voting will be held on November 11, and the counting of votes will be conducted on November 14.
After paying obeisance at Gurdwara Bir Baba Budha Sahib, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and leader of Opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, along with other senior party leaders, said this election will decide the political path and the course Punjab was going to choose for its future.
“Punjabis are proud Indians and not Khalistani supporters,” Warring said, reacting to Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) fielding Mandeep Singh, brother of Sandeep Singh, who is an accused in the murder case of Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri.
Expressing confidence that peace-loving people of Tarn Taran will defeat all secessionist forces and their designs, Warring said, “People are wise enough to make a careful choice as to whom they are voting for. Whether they should vote for someone who will always be with them or someone who will remain in jail, they know it all.”
The PPCC president also took a dig at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for not being able to find a suitable candidate and then deciding to field Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, who he claimed was related to a gangster.
Hitting out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Warring said it picked Harmeet Singh Sandhu, an Akali Dal turncoat whom people of Tarn Taran already know too well.
Partap Singh Bajwa said the Tarn Taran bypoll was going to be an ideological fight to strengthen the country and the state, and to defeat the divisive forces, which were keen to weaken Punjab and Punjabiyat.
Maintaining that it was a clear fight between the forces trying to destabilise Punjab and the forces wanting to keep peace in Punjab at all costs, he said Tarn Taran will set the trend as to which way Punjab was headed for.
Among those present on the occasion included OP Soni, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Pargat Singh, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Jasbir Singh Dimpa and Capt Sandeep Sandhu.
