Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh today accused the Badals and Kejriwal of striking an "underhand deal" for the upcoming state Assembly polls, saying AAP's nomination of Jarnail Singh from Lambi constituency against Parkash Singh Badal "appeared to be a ploy" to ensure latter's victory.
"It was a clear case of collusion between the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party. Jarnail Singh was a complete non-entity, with no standing in Punjab," Amarinder said.
"It was evident that the Badals had come to some understanding with Kejriwal to save senior Badal from a certain rout in the forthcoming polls," he said.
He said Jarnail was a "complete lightweight" and the only reason to pit him against Badal from high-profile Lambi constituency "could be to try and make the seat safe for the chief minister".
Both SAD and AAP were getting desperate in the face of their imminent defeat in the Assembly elections and had clearly come to an agreement to help each other in a bid to prevent the Congress from coming to power, the PCC chief said.
He, however, asserted that nothing could now stop the Congress juggernaut from sweeping its way to a clear majority in the state.
Amarinder said he would not be surprised if money had exchanged hands and AAP had agreed to support the Badals in return for cash or other benefits, especially given the party's past history.
He cited widespread allegations of corruption and sale of tickets against the AAP leadership to say there was enough reason to believe that the party leaders were willing to sell off their souls to promote their personal interests.
"Kejriwal and his party had made it amply clear over the past few weeks that they did not have interests of Punjab or its people at heart and were only concerned about advancing their interests," he said.
Terming AAP as an "anti-Punjab outfit of greedy and corrupt individuals", Amarinder pointed out that Kejriwal's refusal to take a stand for the state on the SYL issue was also a clear pointer to his total absence of concern for Punjab and its people.
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