Warring dares Sukhbir to fight from Gidderbaha only

· Asks why is he desperate to align with BJP

CHANDIGARH, January 6: Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring today challenged the Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal to contest only from Gidderbaha and he (Warring) will fight against him.
Responding to Sukhbir’s earlier announcement that he will contest the next assembly election from Giderbaha, Warring accepted the challenge and told him (Sukhbir) that if he was so confident, he must fight from Gidderbaha only and not form multiple constituencies like Lambi and Jalalabad also.
Warring took a dig at the SAD president’s misleading claims about his party’s performance in the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections. He said, barring a few seats in Muktsar and Bathinda, the Akalis were wiped out from across the state. In eleven districts, they could not open their account and yet Mr Badal suggests that his party came second in these elections.
The PCC president asked Sukhbir, if his party’s performance was so spectacular, why was he and his party so desperate to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is scorning at and dismissing their (Akalis’) overtures day in and day out.
So much so, he added, the Akalis have taken a back seat on the issue of MGNREGA. He said, while in the parliament initially the lone Akali MP Ms Harsimarat Kaur Badal sided with the opposition parties against scrapping of the MGNREGA, within no time the party backed off apparently for being scared of annoying the BJP.
“Will you spell out what is your agenda to align with the BJP like on release of Sikh detainees who have completed their jail sentences, transfer of Chandigarh and also MGNREGA?” he asked Sukhbir.
Warring noted that the people of Punjab had neither forgotten nor forgiven the heinous crime of sacrilege that took place during the Akalis’ regime for which Sukhbir had tendered an apology before the Akali Takhat.