Will throw Badals, their ministers, OSDs into jail: Amarinder

Congress's chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh on Sunday stormed the citadel of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Lambi, launching an all-out attack on the ruling family, while promising to "throw all their ministers and OSDs into the jail for destroying people's lives".

Capt Amarinder lambasted Badal for the alleged growing incidents of sacrilege in the state, which he said was a clear attempt by the Akalis to divide Punjab on communal lines.

He also came down heavily on Badal for the "misdeeds of his ministers", pointing out that while Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia was "openly trading in drugs", Agriculture Minister Tota Singh had "ruined" the state by "supplying fake seeds and pesticides".

"How can Badal claim not to know about what's happening in his own backyard," Capt Amarinder said.

Addressing rallies in Panjwan and Sarawan Bodla, he promised to throw them all, along with Sukhbir Badal's OSDs -- Dyal Singh Kolianwal (SGPC member), Satinderjee Singh Mantta -- as well as his close aide Tejinder Singh Middhukhera, into jail for the atrocities committed on the people of Punjab.

The PPCC chief also lashed out at AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal as a 'rank outsider' and a 'liar of the first order', with no interest in the welfare of Punjab or its people.

With many of his own MLAs in Delhi in jail on various criminal charges, and he himself under probe in a corruption case along with his brother-in-law, Kejriwal's credentials had been blasted to smithereens, he said.

Asserting that he would give the Akalis a massive beating all over Punjab, where the Congress party's internal analysis is giving SAD no more than 14 seats, Amarinder said that he had been unable to come to Lambi after filing his nomination papers as he was going all over the state to ensure that the Badals are wiped out from Punjab for good.

Reacting to Sukhbir's promise of loan waiver for farmers, Capt Amarinder asked "was he sleeping the last 10 years?"

Expressing concern over the suicides by farmers in Punjab, he reiterated his promise to waive off all their loans immediately after coming to power.

Referring to the SYL issue, Capt Amarinder said construction of the canal, which the Akalis had failed to stop and which Arvind Kejriwal would allow in the interest of his native state of Haryana, would adversely affected 6 lakh families in southern Punjab.

"We cannot allow that to happen at any cost," he said.

Capt Amarinder's remarks came even as, at Panjwan, the Haryana Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee extended its support to the Punjab Congress in the assembly polls.

The PPCC president lamented the alleged injustice meted out to Punjab in water-sharing, which had enabled Haryana to get more water despite being a smaller state post reorganisation.