Impressive show by Congress at Chhapar CHHAPAR (LUDHIANA), September 4:

Impressive show by Congress at Chhapar

CHHAPAR (LUDHIANA), September 4: The Congress organized an overwhelmingly impressive show at the annual Chhapar mela here today with thousands of party workers and almost all the senior leaders of the state, converging on the rally organized by the Qila Raipur MLA Jassi Khangura. Chhappar, which earlier was in the Qila Raipur, now falls in the Dakha assembly segment after the delimitation. Independent estimates put the strength of Congress rally ahead of all others, including that of the ruling Akali-BJP alliance.

To cap it all, the rally was addressed by a galaxy of party leaders who included the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, the leader of the opposition in the Punjab assembly, Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Ludhiana MP, Manish Tewari, the Anandpur Sahib MP, Ravneet Singh Bittu, the Fateghagarh Sahib MP, SS Libra and Jassi Khangura.

Buoyed by the massive turnout of the people at the rally, the party leaders lashed out at the ruling Akali-BJP alliance for proving to be all round failure. Addressing the rally, Ms Bhattal said, the Akalis, particularly the Badals had never thought beyond their own family. She pointed out, the father-son duo had resorted to no holds barred loot of the state and pushed it into a deep mess.

Mr Kaypee said, instead of looking forward to the welfare of the state, the Badals had been obsessed with their personal welfare. He pointed out, be it the bus permits, the liquor vends, the sand mining, the cable network, everything was grabbed by the Badal family. He said, people of the state had got so much disillusioned with the ruling alliance that they wanted to get rid of it at the earliest.

Speaking on the occasion the local MP and the national spokesperson of the Congress, Manish Tewari observed, the state had been pushed to a deep financial mess. He said, ever since the Akali-BJP government took over, the total outstanding loan against the state had crossed a whopping Rs sixty thousand crores and it was accumulating further. He pointed out, the state did not have enough funds to pay salaries to its employees.

Expressing his gratitude to the people for participating in the rally in such a huge number, the fiery Qila Raipur MLA Jassi Khangura said, the very fact that there were double the number of people in the Congress rally than that of the Akalis’ was enough proof of their disillusionment with the government. He pointed out, despite huge resources at their disposal and with each and every legislator having been assigned particular number to be brought to the rally, the Akalis could not match the Congress. “It is the strength and support of the people that counts and not the misuse of official machinery”, he remarked while comparing the two rallies.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included legislators Isher Singh Meharban, Gurdeep Singh Bhaini, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Bibi Harchand Kaur, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, former ministers Harnam Dass Johar, Malkiat Singh Dakha youth leader Bhupinder Singh Sidhu, Pawan Dewan, District Congress Committee (rural) president Bhalinder Singh, Amarjit Singh Tikka and others.