Cong MLAs resign, SAD says political stunt

President’s Rule demanded
Cong MLAs resign, SAD says political stunt
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 17
To protest against the alleged high-handedness of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) during the recent PRI polls, the Congress MLAs of the state, including of Bathinda district, handed over their resignations to the PPCC chief Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in Amritsar today.
Talking to some MLAs of Bathinda, this correspondent observed that they had tendered their resignations to their party chief as power of attorney and she would use these resignations to play the card to build pressure while seeking imposition of the President’s Rule in the state.
Talking over phone, MLA Nathana, Ajaib Singh Bhatti said, “The reason behind the step was the high-handedness of the SAD-BJP coalition. In this regime, the bureaucracy is hand-in-glove with SAD.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, MLA Rampura Phul, said, “In the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections, the actual face of the SAD has been exposed. SAD workers with the support of their leaders assaulted opponents and
even mediapersons. We feel that our party workers had started fearing. So, it is because of this that we have taken this step.”
MLA Pakka Kalan, Makhan Singh, the thinktank in Bathinda Congress MLA lobby said, “The SAD leaders have been using all methods to strangulate democracy. In this attempt, our candidates were arrested and even the nominations of many Congress candidates were rejected during the recent polls.”
On the other hand, senior vice-president SAD, Chiranji Lal Garg, while talking over phone from Amritsar, said, “There is nothing serious about it. It is only a political stunt. It has been done as Rajinder Kaur Bhattal herself fears losing her position. In Amritsar, the position of the Congress candidate is weak. The Congress has seen the results of the recent PRI polls and now they are restless.”