CHANDIGARH:  Senior Akali leader and SAD Secretary General Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Wednesday asked   captain Amarinder Singh not to insult the self-respecting, upright and hard-working people of Patiala with his assertion that they had received the development package from the Punjab Chief Minister parkash Singh Badal as "bribery." 

Dhindsa rubbished Captain Amarinder Singh's   remarks about the Sangat Darshan and development package unveiled by the Chief Minister in Patiala over the past couple of days and said that Captain Singh's statements clearly showed that he would never "get rid of his Maharaja mindset which equates serving the people with bribing them". He still seems to be living in a by-gone era when the rulers were believed to have no obligation to serve their people. That is why he sees any amount spent on their welfare as bribery," said  Dhindsa, adding that no self-respecting Punjabi could tolerate insults such as those dished out by Amarinder from thousands of kilometers away, especially  when he has himself  been found to be neck deep in corruption," said Dhindsa

The Akali leader also   asked Captain Amarinder Singh to search his own conscience as to why the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal could spend Rs. 250 crore for the development of Patiala in a single day while Amarinder's royal family had not spent even one crore in 250 years for the people of the city.  "It is ironic that Captain Amarinder Singh has chosen to speak from a distance of over 10,000 kilometers to express his "closeness" to the people of Patiala at a time when  Badal is spending every minute of his day and night in the midst of the people," said  Dhindsa in a statement here.  "Everybody in Patiala knows just how much the Captain loves this city. '

Dhindsa said that the people of Patiala needed no lectures in order to understand  whether Mr. Badal,  who has all the workload in the world but finds time to be with them and share their concerns, is their well-wisher or Amarinder who has no work, not even from his own party, but chooses to spend time in London when he should be answering Punjab how he plans to return the Rs 360 crore looted from the treasury. "Over the past five years Amarinder Singh has spent more time with his glamorous Pakistan friend than with the entire populace of Patiala, including the members of his own family. . "All this while, he was not to be seen in Patiala, except for a couple of sightings in the company of Aroosa. Should Patialvis now disturb him on such pleasant occasions, or should they rather look towards the one man who is always available and is concerned about the state of affairs in the much-neglected area?"Dhindsa  asked.