PATIALA, January 10: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today filed his nomination papers from the Patiala-I assembly segment. He was accompanied by the members of his family including his wife Ms Perneet Kaur, the Minister of State for External Affairs, son Mr Raninder Singh, daughter Ms Jai Inder Kaur and daughter in law Ms Rishma Kaur.
He arrived around noon at the local Mini Secretariat and submitted his papers in the office of the Sub Division Magistrate Patiala, Mr Anil Garg.
On the way back outside the Mini Secretariat, replying to questions from the reporters, he said, the Congress was certain and confidant of forming the government in Punjab as there was a total mood for change in the state. He said, people were so upset with the Akalis that they were counting the days as when they (the Akalis) will be thrown out.
The PCC President also clarified that there was not much dissidence within the party after the announcement of the candidates. He said, there were some initial reactions but except for one or two persons all those not happy with the list have met him and agreed and assured that they will be campaigning for the party candidates and some of them had already joined the campaign.
Ridiculing the Akali Dal president Mr Sukhbir Badal for leveling baseless allegations that Congress tickets were sold for Rs 25 crores each, Capt Amarinder remarked, “Congress party does not sell tickets as Akalis do, but if Sukhbir believes that Congress tickets were really sold and that too for such a whopping amount, he should better realize and pack off as it means Congress was certain to form the government in the state as nobody likes to buy a losing stock”.
The PCC President reiterated that Mr Raninder Singh was allotted the party ticket by the high command in recognition of having fought against the Akali candidate Ms Harsimrat Kaur Badal in the Bathinda parliamentary elections as he gave a tough fight to the Badals there. He said, although he lost but he polled 4.18 lakh votes even more than some elected MPs.
He said that all the senior leaders of the party from the centre including the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the Congress President Ms Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Mr Rahul Gandhi will come for campaigning in Punjab in the coming days.
Asked about how many seats Congress expected to win, he said, the party was confidant of winning at least 75 seats as indicated by various surveys including those conducted by the state government intelligence agencies. “But our effort will be to increase the number of seats to maximum and each and every candidate is confidant of winning”, he said, while adding “and they have every reason to feel confident”.
Replying to another question about his own campaign in Patiala, he said, he may not be able to spend much time in Patiala assembly segment as he has to go to each and every assembly segment across Punjab to campaign for the party candidates. “Each resident and every voter in Patiala will be campaigning for me”, he said, while asking, “do you still think that I need to campaign here?”
