Captain Amarinder Singh by her side, Rajinder Kaur Bhattalfiles papers

BHATINDA: Two former chief ministers of Punjab from the Congress on Monday shared the stage at Lehragaga town of Sangrur district and accused Shiromani Akali Dal of pushing the state into a mess. Both, Captain Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, also dwelled on their “deep connection with the Lehragaga constituency“, which has devastating seasonal rivulet Ghaggar running through it.
Amarinder's maternal grandparents hailed from the area and Bhattal is married there. On Monday, she filed her nomination papers in Lehragaga for the seventh straight time.
Out of the last six time, she consecutively has won five. She had lost only in 1985 that also to Amarinder`s maternal uncle Inderjit Singh Jaijee, who had contested on SAD ticket.
While addressing a rally at Lehraghaga before Bhattal filed her nomination papers, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder promised to throw into jail all those who are found guilty of ruining the state with drugs and mafia.
He asked the crowd whether the Congress should take Badals to task after forming the government in Punjab. After the gathering responded with a yes, Amarinder declared that as he had decided to contest from Lambi, where he would defeat CM Parkash Singh Badal.
Pointing out that `chitta' (euphemism for white powdered drugs) had killed thou sands of Punjab's children, and citing Maqboolpura in Amritsar as an example of the devastation wreaked by drugs leaving only widows and children in the entire village, he asserted that all those responsible for the drug menace would be brought to book and not even the Badals and Bikram Singh Majithia would be spared.
“They will all be dealt within four weeks of the next Congress government taking over Punjab. Asi unha sab nu lamba pa dewange (We pin them down all),“ he said.
Referring to the large number of farmer suicides in Malwa region, Amarinder said the Badal government had failed to do anything for the peasants but his party was committed to waiving off their loans and rescuing them from the quagmire into which they had been plunged by the current dispensation. Bhattal asked Amarinder to declare as Lehragag as a district after forming the government.
Before nomination, Brar shows strength
Before Congress announced his candidature from Nakodar assembly, party leader Jagbir Brar organized a show of strength on Monday and accused hockey icon Pargat Singh of implicating people in false cases. However, Brar's words changed for the party's Jalandhar Cantonment nominee after he got the ticket from Nakodar. Brar had organized the show of strength to stake claim to the party's ticket from Jalandhar North, after Pargat had declared on Sunday evening that he was going to contest from the seat even though there was no official word from the party at that time.Later in the evening, sources in the party said, Pargat and Brar would be told to help each other as Pargat's in-laws hold considerable influence in Nakodar.