Congress leader Amarinder Singh already facing revolt from various factions of his party, faced a jolt from an unexpected quarter, from his own family, as Amarjit Kaur, aunt of former chief minister, quit the Congress and joined Shiromani Akali Dal in the presence of Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The defection of senior leaders like Amarjit Kaur, twice member of parliament and former delegate to the United Nations Organization, at the crucial moment of elections was an indicator of the fact that many leaders, fed up with the attitude of Amarinder, were quitting Congress.
Speaking to the media, Sukhbir Singh Badal said the political battle can be fought only by leading the workers from the front and not by remote-controlled media campaign from the air conditioned rooms of Moti Bagh Palace.(Amarinder's private residence).
He said that he can understand the difficulty of Maharaja (Amarinder) not moving out of air conditioned environs of his palatial palace, that too in the scorching sun of mid-April.
He was only appearing for brief photo shoots, enacted daily, in the air conditioned library of the Palace, showcasing the induction of rootless leaders in the Congress party, Badal said.
Making mockery of ‘rotational headship’ introduced in the Congress, to keep the dwindling flock of disgruntled ‘leaders’ together, Sukhbir Singh Badal said the Congress was a leaderless party, with every leader being given opportunity to head the party for one month on rotational basis.
He said there was so much infighting in the various sections of the Congress that they have no energy left to fight the Akali Dal in electoral battle.
He added that various compromise formulas and changing nomenclature of various posts in the Congress as acting president, working president, campaign manager, party leader being coined by the party in distress, to keep fighting leaders together at least during photo shoots of ‘solidarity shows’.
Describing Amarjit Kaur as a leader of the masses, Sukhbir said every mass-based leader was feeling suffocated in the party ruled by sycophants, Raj Darbaries and rejected Maharajas and opting for cadre-based party, the Shiromani Akali Dal.
Thanking Shiromani Akali Dal President for accepting her in the fold of Akali Dal Amarjit Kaur said that she was pained at the attitude of Congress party that awarded butchers of 1984 riots with Lok Sabha tickets.
She said that she was feeling suffocated in that party in which mass based leaders were deliberately being sidelined, giving priority to sycophants. He said that both 'Rani' (Preneet Kaur) and 'Rajkumar' (Raninder Singh son of Amarinder) were set to loose their deposits as SAD was committed to defeat Raninder in Bathinda and Parneet in Patiala.
