Says, party does not practice caste politics
Takes dig at AAP U-turn over missing 'swaroops'
Punjab Newsline, Chandigarh-
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring today categorically denied that there was any factionalism in the state Congress. At the same time, he said, the Congress does not practice caste or communal politics like the BJP to polarize people. He also took a dig at the AAP government for making a U-turn on the issue of the missing 'swaroops' of the holy Guru Granth Sahib.
In an informal interaction with reporters here today, he said, unlike the BJP, the Congress does not believe in polarizing and dividing people in the name of caste or religion. He also said that Punjab in particular never believed in caste or sectarian divisions.
Replying to a question on factionalism in the PCC, he said, the party was completely united in the state. He said, may be there are some minor differences among the leaders which are part of every organization and even a family. “But tell me where have our leaders worked on cross purposes against each other or against the party?” he asked.
He said, while there are 34 seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, in case there are more deserving candidates from the SC community they can still be accommodated. “If there are fifty deserving SC candidates they will all get the tickets irrespective of the fact that only 34 are reserved for the SCs”, he said.
Replying to a question about the recent remarks made by former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Warring said he would not like to comment on that. At the same time, he pointed out, Channi was made the Chief Minister after the removal of an upper caste CM Amarinder Singh and earlier he was made the CLP leader after the removal of an upper caste leader Sunil Jakhar.
Warring noted that Channi was specially picked up to be the Chief Minister of Punjab in 2021 when no party MLA had supported him. Despite that, he added, every leader and legislator welcomed the party’s decision.
Replying to a question whether Channi was peddling the BJP agenda and that some BJP leaders had invited him to join the party (the BJP), the PCC president refused to be drawn into the issue.
To another question on the U-turn by the AAP government on the issue of missing ‘swaroops’ of the holy Guru Granth Sahib, Warring said, it was not for the first time that the state government had done so. “We really don’t know whom to believe, whether the Chief Minister or the Finance Minister on the issue”, he remarked.
About the scheduled meeting of the PCC leaders with the party high command on January 23, he said, the agenda will be how to get rid of the AAP, how to combat and defeat the polarizing politics of the BJP and how to hold Akali Dal to account for the sacrilege cases.