Amarinder Singh says will fight Arvind Kejriwal on any seat in Punjab
Chandigarh: Congress Leader Amarinder Singh on Tuesday challenged Arvind Kejriwal to fight from any seat of his choice in the upcoming polls and said he won't let a "Haryanvi", "Delhiwala" become the chief minister of Punjab.
"He is a Haryanvi, he is a Delhiwala and I will fight him from wherever he stands. Win or lose is God's will, but I will not give him an easy chance in this," he said, adding, "Kejriwal will not be allowed to come in and win".
He also launched an unsparing attack on Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and former BJP Rajya Sabha lawmaker Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has recently floated a new political front.
Rejecting Mr Kejriwal's vow to get the ruling Badals jailed for corruption as "rhetoric", Mr Singh said, "I have already shown that who can put them behind bars, I had already put them in jail. Do you think that corruption which is going on in Punjab, we will ignore it? We will go into every issue and wherever any irregularity and illegality is found, people will have to face the music."
The former Punjab chief minister also refuted Kejriwal's allegations that he (Mr Singh) and the Badals were playing a "friendly match" and that they were "hand-in-glove" in many things.
"Kejriwal keeps saying that Amarinder Singh and Badal are together, he (Mr Kejriwal, a former IRS officer) is a typical babu, who works cleverly," he said.
The Congress leader said Mr Sidhu was being "overrated" - who's recently launched Awaaz-e-Punjab front is being supported by two Independent MLAs from Ludhiana besides former hockey captain-turned- politician Pargat Singh.
"I think we are over-rating Mr Sidhu, he has been a cricketer, but nobody remembers his cricketing days. Secondly, he has been doing cricket commentary, so people know him little bit from there. Thirdly, they know him from this foolish programme which he does (on TV) where he tries to make everyone laugh, that is all that they know of him".
He further said, "If you think a comedian like Sidhu or a comedian like Bhagwant Mann or Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi (both AAP leaders) are the right people for Punjab, then God help Punjab."
Mr Singh said he does not see any threat from Mr Sidhu's "fourth front" and claimed that the anti-incumbency votes of the ruling Akali Dal will go to the Congress.
"No matter what they (Akalis) try this time, their ship has sunk," he said
Asserting that Congress, unlike AAP, was serious about debt waiver, the PCC president said his party would move a private member's bill in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha seeking debt waiver for the farmers.
Replying to a question about his having described the AAP manifesto released yesterday as a "carbon copy" of Congress' policies, Mr Singh said, "Rather it is a case of political plagiarism" claiming the Kejriwal-led party had copied everything his party had promised long before.
