In a stern warning to the rebel candidates who had failed to withdraw their nominations in time, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday gave them an ultimatum to retire from the race by 5 p.m. on Tuesday or face permanent expulsion from the party.Urging the rebels to opt out in favour of the Congress nominees and put up a united front to defeat the anti-people SAD and AAP, Captain Amarinder said the interests of Punjab and its people were supreme and could not be allowed to be compromised for personal gains. He gave the rebels 48 hours to withdraw from the contest if they did not want to face expulsion from the party, saying the AICC had also agreed not to take the rebels back into the party fold if expelled for defiance.Hitting out at the rebels who refused to heed the party leadership’s request for withdrawal of nomination, despite the promise that they would be accommodated once the Congress forms government in the state, Captain Amarinder said it amounted to violation of the party’s disciplinary ethics, which could not be permitted at any cost.
Adamant on his tough stance against the rebel candidates, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president said he had asked the AICC president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi to show no laxity in dealing with the dissidents. He had urged the party high command to expels such rebels for life and close all doors for their re-entry into the Congress, said Captain Amarinder Singh, giving the rebels a last chance to toe the party line by announcing their retirement by Tuesday evening.Captain Amarinder thanked those who had heeded the party leadership’s request to withdraw their papers before the last day of filing nominations, saying it was now the party’s responsibility to take care of their interests. He would personally ensure that they are not let down on this count and are accommodated in key positions to take the Congress agenda of governance and development forward after the formation of its government in the state, the PPCC president promised.Captain Amarinder, however, made it clear that the presence of rebel candidates in the fray would not have a serious impact on the poll prospects of the Punjab Congress. The party, he asserted, had selected winnable candidates to contest the Assembly elections and they would help the Congress sweep the polls with two-thirds majority to ensure restoration of Punjab’s lost glory.