Killing two birds

While battling in-party squabbling in Punjab, the Congress has decided to put up a brave front. In a show of defiance last week, senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh took on both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine in the state. Likening AAP leaders to "clowns or comedians", he said on Twitter, "AAP leaders are showing false dreams in Punjab." A few days before posting that comment, he had said, "We can wrest power from the anti-people Akali-BJP nexus on our own." Singh is gunning for the post of the party's campaign committee chief ahead of Assembly polls in the state in 2017.