Amarinder fond of vanishing acts – Maheshinder Grewal

Chandigarh, August 24: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh was set to perform another one of his vanishing acts, this time from Amritsar, by ditching the holy city in favour of his former constituency of Patiala.

In a statement here, SAD spokesman Maheshinder Singh Grewal said by submitting his candidature for the forthcoming assembly elections from Patiala to the Congress party, Amarinder had again proven that he was a history-sheeter as far as ditching people was concerned.

He said it was condemnable that Amarinder had played with the sentiments of the people of Amritsar whom he currently represented in parliament. “Wasn’t it incumbent on him to at least have a dialogue with the people of the holy city before deciding to ditch them and filing his nomination for the Patiala city with the Congress party?” he asked.

“But then this is what is termed as Maharaja style”, Mr Grewal said while talking about the politics of Amarinder which is more often than not conducted from either his summer residence at Narkanda in Himachal or Dubai. “Since Amarinder has visited Amritsar only a few times since he became mp more than two years back he probably did not even think he needed to consult the people of Amritsar before taking a decision about his next political action”. He said besides this Amarinder had never truly represented Amritsar in parliament as he usually remained missing. “Even when he has attended Lok Sabha sittings he has never raised his voice for the cause of Amritsar and its people”, the SAD leader said.

Mr Grewal said Amarinder had earlier displayed such whimsical behaviour earlier also. “He was earlier a legislator from Patiala but never ever visited or met a single ordinary person in the city for years together. People come to know he is in Patiala only from his cavalcades. He always prefers to remain ensconced in his new Moti Bagh palace residence whenever in the city”, the SAD leader said.

The SAD leader also castigated Captain Amarinder Singh for laying the blame of sacrilege incidents in the state on Chief Minister, S. Parkash Singh Badal, whose moderate policies had laid the foundation of peace and communal harmony in Punjab. “Instead of making wild allegations it would be better if you introspect on your own actions which included consorting with militants which only helped to further spoil the atmosphere of the State. One can see that you have become totally desperate after seeing the ground slipping from beneath your feet and have become totally dejected and frustrated. Those resorting to such sacrilege incidents are being exposed by the day. Rest assured none will be spared. But it would have been better if you had helped in exposing such elements rather than making a diversionary statement aimed at helping such anti-social and anti-national elements”, Mr Grewal added.