Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has dismissed AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal’s much-delayed reaction on the SYL issue as a clear bid to divert attention from the crisis reining in his party as a result of the major revolts and widespread corruption allegations.In a statement issued on Monday, Captain Amarinder ridiculed as irrelevant and meaningless Kejriwal’s belated attempt to retrieve the ground lost in Punjab due to his prolonged silence on the SYL matter.Now that his party has been plunged irrevocably into a mess, with leaders, workers and volunteers quitting en masse’, Kejriwal is looking for straws to grab in order to retain some semblance of a fight in Punjab, said Captain Amarinder. Kejriwal’s SYL comments came on a day when four key organizational leaders joined the Congress and as many as 150 AAP volunteers quit the party over its tie-up with the corrupt Bains brothers.It is obvious that Kejriwal chose to speak up on the SYL issue at this hour, when his party was in total shambles and staring at imminent defeat in the upcoming assembly polls, said Captain Amarinder, adding that the AAP leader’s SYL remarks were just another electoral gimmick on his party, just like his promise to appoint a Dalit chief minister in Punjab when his own cabinet in Delhi has not a single Dalit face.
“Why did it take him a month to come out with a comment in support of Punjab on the SYL issue? Was it such a big riddle that it took him a month to solve? Or does his warped mind, which is so busy weaving conspiracy theories, find it difficult to think of the more critical and relevant issues?” asked Captain Amarinder.“I had myself repeatedly requested him to break his silence on this important issue for the people of Punjab, but Kejriwal refused to respond,” Captain Amarinder pointed out, adding that the timing of the AAP leader’s remarks on SYL make his intentions suspect, especially given his track record on the issue.Kejriwal had been making contradictory statements on SYL even before the Supreme Court verdict came in, speaking in favour of Punjab one day and taking stand for Haryana and Delhi the next, Captain Amarinder recalled, adding that the AAP leader had made it amply clear that the welfare of the people of Punjab was the last thing on his mind and he was merely interested in grabbing power in the state by hook or by crook.Kejriwal’s U-turns on critical issues have stopped being laughable, said Captain Amarinder, warning the AAP leader against continuing to try and befool the people of Punjab and putting their interests at stake in his desperation for power.