The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said it was ironic that a failed, discredited and tainted leader like Partap Singh Bajwa, who was now reckoned as “liability number one” by the entire rank and file of the Punjab Congress, was talking about liabilities in Punjab politics and espousing on SAD-BJP relations.In a statement here, SAD general secretary Maheshinder Singh Grewal said Partap Bajwa seemed to be living in a fool’s paradise. “Instead of looking into his own performance as well as the performance of the Punjab Congress under his leadership, he is desperately trying to portray that there is a wedge in SAD-BJP relations”.
Grewal said Bajwa should first explain his own humiliating defeat from his pocket burrough Gurdaspur. “He should also tell the people why he even lost from the assembly segment of Qadian which is represented by his wife Charanjit Bajwa in the Vidhan Sabha. The people also want to know why the Congress had plummeted to only three seats under his leadership from the earlier figure of eight parliamentary seats won by the party in the last Lok Sabha elections”.The SAD leader said it was clear that all this had happened because the PCC chief had been completely discredited in the run up to the parliamentary polls. “Everyone knows the past history of Mr Bajwa’s family as well as the occupation practised by them in the border belt. Mr Bajwa’s role in the bitumen scam as well as the Gujarat call girl racket scam is also known to everyone. As if this was not enough, in the run up to the elections, the PCC chief was further exposed as a land grabber who had taken over panchayat land belonging to the villagers in the periphery of Chandigarh. He was also accused of being arrogant and disrespectful and deceitful due to which the Congress workers left the party in droves under his stewardship”.
Grewal said things have come to such a pass that the Congress rank and file has virtually passed a motion of no confidence against Mr Bajwa by asking him to give up his post. “The entire party feels Bajwa is a liability and excess baggage and should be shed immediately. Even Amritsar mp Capt Amarinder Singh has openly revolted against him and told him to resign from the PCC presidentship immediately.”
The SAD leader said it was surprising that instead of answering any questions about his own leadership, Bajwa was trying to pert the attention of the people by inventing lies. “The SAD-BJP is together and will stay together. The coalition has even improved its position in Punjab vis a vis the last parliamentary elections by winning six parliamentary seats against five in 2009. With the NDA in power at the centre, SAD-BJP ties have been further strengthened.
The SAD now even has representation in the Union cabinet with Bathinda mp Harsimrat Kaur Badal being assigned the prestigious Food Processing Industry ministry. Partap Bajwa on the other hand is looking towards political oblivion with the Punjab Congress all but finished as a political force under his stewardship. Mr Bajwa’s end as a politician is near and that it why he is clutching at straws for political survival”, Mr Grewal added.