"Rahul's announcement of Amarinder as CM candidate is a good omen. It helped us last time too. Our battle is all but won. Forget Punjabis, even Congressmen are fed up with Amarinder's arrogant ways.
"The entire senior leadership be it Manpreet Badal, Navjot Sidhu, Partap Bajwa or Bibi Bhattal, no one wants him to become CM. Now they will unite as one to keep him away from the CM's chair. Our work will be done by them", said Sukhbir in a statement here.
Badal said "Rahul has chosen a "lame horse" who has already failed twice earlier.
"This time Amarinder will not only make it a hat trick of defeats but will also take down the party with him. It is a known fact that wherever the Congress loses thrice in a row it ceases to exist as a political entity. This is going to happen in Punjab now," he said.
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The SAD chief said, "Rahul Gandhi was living in a fool's paradise if he thought announcing Amarinder as chief ministerial candidate would help the party."
Badal asked Punjabis to evaluate Amarinder's performance before taking any decision to give their mandate.
"This is a person who has never visited a single ward of Patiala despite having represented it for years. Amarinder never visited Amritsar despite being elected as an MP from the holy city. He never attended parliament. He has always been missing from the state. How can you ever repose faith in such a person," he asked.
He said Amarinder also withdrew welfare schemes and had also put a ban on government recruitment. "This is his track record as CM. It is good Rahul has chosen him as CM candidate. It is indeed good news for us".