Congress MLA slaps party supporter before Capt Amarinder’s rally

Dinanagar (Gurdaspur), Tempers ran high at a Congress protest rally here on Wednesday when an MLA slapped a party supporter who had inadvertently made his way to the stage.

The protest rally in front of Paniar sugar mill against the non-payment of sugarcane arrears to farmers by the state government was presided over by PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh. However, it was ‘slapgate’ that became talk of the town with the main event being relegated to a side-show.

An hour before the arrival of Amarinder, Congressmen faced an unsavoury situation when Dera Baba Nanak legislator Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa roughed up a fellow party man by slapping him in front of hundreds of supporters and electronic media. The supporter was identified as IS Gulati, aligned to the Sewa Dal, a frontal organisation of the Congress.
An incensed Gulati, after being hit on the face, retaliated and tried to pay the MLA in same coin. However, Randhawa ducked in the nick of time.

The MLA’s detractors were quick to upload the video on social media while TV channels, too, showed the footage — from the exchange of words to physical assault.
Pandemonium prevailed for quite some time before senior leaders intervened. Later, Gulati left the venue in a huff but not before his turban was tossed as he was roughed up by Randhawa’s supporters.
Senior Congressmen said such incidents should be avoided in the run-up to the assembly elections as a lot is at stake for the party.
“The MLA’s behaviour has damaged the party’s image. A democratically-elected representative’s public behaviour should be immaculate,” said a former cabinet minister.In his address, Amarinder said the capacity of all sugar mills in the state would be increased after the Congress comes to power. He also took a dig at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. “Such is the mess created by the Akalis that a time will soon come when its leaders, including the CM and his son, will not dare to venture out in public,” he said.
Prominent among those present on the occasion were former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa, AICC secretary Harish Chowdhury and two dozen former and sitting MLAs.