Amarinder Singh accuses Partap Singh Bajwa of sabotaging his poll campaign

CHANDIGARH: Infighting in Punjab Congress flared up today with senior leader Amarinder Singh accusing Partap Singh Bajwa of sabotaging his Lok Sabha election campaign in Amritsar, a charge rubbished by the PCC chief as "utter lies".

In a statement, Amarinder alleged that Bajwa and his brother Fateh Bajwa had tried to sabotage his campaign in Amritsar.

They had specifically visited the city and told people to oppose him, Amarinder claimed, adding that he had to call Fateh and warn him against indulging in such activities.

Amarinder said he kept quiet so far in the interest of the party, but was saying it now as some senior leaders were unnecessarily being targeted and blamed for no fault.

Bajwa, however, termed the allegation as "utter lies". "I reject the allegations with the contempt they deserve," Bajwa said.

In a statement, Bajwa said as the party president, it was his prerogative to visit any constituency in the state, but this time Amarinder was lying.

"Is he motivated by the desire to occupy the post of the PPCC chief from which he had to go following successive defeats of Congress in every election beginning with 2007? It is Capt Amarinder Singh who handed over the government on a platter to the Akali Dal in 2012 when even Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal could never imagine that they would return to power," he said.

"Capt Amarinder Singh is trying to deflect from the real issue, as a number of MLAs and leaders from other areas had camped in Amritsar throughout the campaign, neglecting their own regions and it was this strategy of his which resulted in colossal loss in other areas.

"Now, he will have to explain this situation to the party high command, so he is trying to raise frivolous and baseless issues and levelling false allegations to divert focus."

It was because of this reason that the party got defeated in Gurdaspur, Khadoor Sahib, Bathinda, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur," Bajwa said.

Bajwa claimed his brother was bed-ridden for more than a week during the election campaign and he had no time to go out of Gurdaspur as he himself was contesting from there.

Amarinder also attacked the chairman of the party's Disciplinary Action Committee G K Chatrath, asking him if he could initiate action against Bajwa and his brother.

Taking a dig at Chatrath for issuing notices to two party MLAs Rana Gurmeet Sodhi and Kewal Dhillon on Thursday for openly seeking Bajwa's resignation, Amarinder asked him if he could initiate similar disciplinary proceedings against Bajwa and his brother.