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Amarinder seeks guaranteed paddy procurement in Punjab

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Press Trust of India Moga
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to seek guarantee from the Prime Minister that entire paddy produced in Punjab this year will be procured.

Addressing a workers' meeting here, he expressed doubts about the Food Corporation of India procuring the paddy in Punjab this time.

"I hope that does not happen but if it happens there will be lawlessness and anarchy in Punjab as large number of farmers have switched to paddy cultivation," he said.

He asked the farmers to be ready for a long and hard struggle to save Punjab's waters in case the Supreme Court decides in favour of Haryana in the SYL canal issue.
 

"You remember what I did in 2004 and let me promise you today that I am prepared for yet another sacrifice to save Punjab's waters," he said.

He said the Congress government will reopen the inquiry into the Behbal Kalan sacrilege incident as Justice Zora Commission "had proved to be just an eyewash".

He said while he strongly believes Badal is responsible for the sacrilege, an independent inquiry will establish the truth.

He said two main things needed to be probed: who was responsible for the sacrilege and on whose instructions the police opened fire at the protesters and Zora Singh Commission is "silent" on both.

"And if it is established that Badal was responsible for the sacrilege I will take no time to put him in jail," he asserted.

Earlier, he interacted with the people of Nihalsingh Wala Assembly segment under his 'Halqe vich Captain' programme.

He assured the farmers if the Congress government comes to power, it will enact a law to protect indebted farmers' land from being auctioned and will ensure effective measures are taken towards settling the debts so that they are relieved from the vicious cycle forever.

Lashing out at the Badals, he said, while they had left no stone unturned to amass personal wealth and fortune worth billions of rupees, now they were helping their relatives, the Majithias to grab the historic Khalsa College, Amritsar.

He said the day Congress takes over the government in Punjab it will scrap the Khalsa University.
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Later in the day, AAP campaign committee chairman Bhagwant Mann hit back at Amarinder Singh for trying to teach rules to others and suggested him to have "patience and maintain decorum".

If Amarinder had so much faith on the Election Commission, then why he has put his own lock on strong room in Lambi assembly constituency, he said in a statement, adding the Punjab Congress chief should have little patience and maintain decorum.

Mann said AAP has not raised finger on EC but only cautioned it about "nefarious" designs of Congress and SAD-BJP alliance.

Congress and SAD-BJP alliance made all attempts to "vitiate" the election atmosphere and "rig the polls by ulterior means", he said.

AAP leaders have foiled all attempts by the "unholy nexus of Congress, SAD and BJP to hijack the poll process, create communal divide and create false threat of national security to scare the voters," Mann claimed.

He said people of Punjab have voted for change and wanted to get rid of "corrupt" political system created by successive governments of Congress and SAD-BJP alliance.

Mann, who was fielded from Jalalabad seat, said Amarinder was not an alternative but "substitute of the Badal family".

He alleged that Congress party leaders at several places were caught distributing liquor and money to voters.

"If Amarinder was so sure of his victory then why his party members were indulging in malpractices," he asked.

The Punjab Congress chief would "taste hat-trick of defeats" and he should make preparations for "political exile" after the elections, Mann said, adding the results on March 11 would clear all "misconceptions" of Amarinder Singh.

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First Published: Jul 14 2016 | 9:42 PM IST

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