Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday said it appeared Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh has struck an overnight secret deal with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to withdraw from the Khadoor Sahib By-poll slated for February 13at the last moment. Otherwise what could have been the reason for the Punjab congress to run away from the fray at the eleventh hour when the entire senior leadership including AICC, general secretary and in charge Punjab party affairs, Shakeel Ahmed made statements till yesterday that its former MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki would surely contest the by-poll. AAP, Sangrur MP, Bhagwant Mann, said on Sunday , Shakeel Ahmed had said that he had sent Sikki's name to party president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday morning for approval. Ahmed had also said that since the party in charge for selecting candidates Madhusudan Mistry was in Lucknow with the congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, the party would announce Sikki's name in a day or two.
Mann said besides Amarinder himself even senior Punjab congress leader Rana Gurjit Singh on Tuesday (January 26) had said Sikki would be filing his nomination papers on January 27, the last day for filing the nominations. Rana Gurjit has also claimed that several top leaders of the congress led by him would accompany Sikki to file his nomination papers. However with the sudden announcement by Capt. Amarinder on Wednesday in a press conference held in Chandigarh that Congress would not contest the Khadoor Sahib by-poll, the cat seemed to have come out of the bag. " This clearly shows that Amarinder has struck an overnight deal with the Akalis and he must answer to the people of Punjab for taking them for a ride all these days by promising to contests the by-poll", said Mann.
AAP, Punjab convener, Sucha Singh Chhotepur said by running away from the fray at the eleventh hour Amarinder has once again proven the suspicion of the people of Punjab that he is completely hand in glove with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD, president, Sukhbir Singh Badal. " Amarinder has taken this decision on his own to give a free hand to Akalis in Khadoor Sahib even if he has to annoy his own party high command or a large number of leaders in Punjab", said Chhotepur while asking him to explain his act to the people of Punjab. Senior congress leader Jagmeet Singh Brar through his tweets has already lambasted Amarinder for running away from the by-poll hence causing huge embarrassment to the party.Senior AAP, leader Sanjay Singh said that this was not the first time Amarinder has played into the hands of Akalis. " By refusing to support the CBI probe against Punjab Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia Amarinder had defied the stand taken by his own party high command", added Singh.