Punjab Congress strongman Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday justified nepotism in ticket distribution for the assembly elections. “We have gone entirely for ‘winnability’. We are very clear. We have to form the next government. If these people ( relatives) are capable of winning the seats, what’s wrong in giving them tickets?” Singh told Rahul Kanwal in Aaj Tak’s Seedhi Baat programme.
Singh and many other state Congress leaders are under fire for giving tickets to their children and kin. About 20 relatives of Congress politicians, including Singh’s son Raninder, have been given the tickets. The Punjab PCC chief denied he had lobbied for a ticket for his son, saying Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had cleared his candidature for his “sacrifices”.
He added that his son had polled 4.18 lakh votes contesting against Sukhbir Badal’s wife Harsimrat Kaur from Bathinda in the last Lok Sabha elections. “He polled more votes than most of the MPs who won the last Lok Sabha elections from Punjab,” Singh said. When questioned on Rahul Gandhi’s commitment to eliminate the dynasty factor in Congress politics, Singh said the party had to make a national policy on this. “It can’t be applicable only to Punjab,” he said. The Captain seemed to justify dynasty politics by saying the younger generation had to come forward. “It has to replace us. We can’t go on forever.”
Singh’s brother Malvinder switched over to the SAD on Saturday after Raninder was preferred over him for the Samana constituency. But the Punjab PCC chief said his brother’s exit had nothing to do with the denial of the ticket.
He said Malvinder had made up his mind days ago and had met the Badals two weeks ago “when we had not even prepared the list of probables”. Singh was confident his brother’s exit would not affect his son’s chances from Samana.
Singh took on the Badals for turning his friendship with Pakistani socialite Aroosa Alam into a poll issue. “Friends can be from any country… Pakistan, Ceylon, Zululand, Igloolandâ?¦ Who cares about what the Akalis say? Friendship is a non-negotiable issue. I don’t have just one friend in Pakistan. I have hundreds,” he said.
The PCC chief said the presence of Manpreet Singh Badal’s People’s Party of Punjab will only help the Congress and argued that Manpreet would cut into the Akalis’ vote share. “He is a good speaker, but his party leadership is drifting away because of his dictatorial ways,” he said.
When asked if he had learnt any lesson from his mistakes as CM in the past, Singh said: “I became CM for the first time. It took two years to understand things. By the time we started development work and the results could be seen, it was too late. This time, we have the blueprint ready and you’ll see development from Day 1.”
News Source: IBN
