While Congress candidate in Uttarakhand Saket Bahuguna, son of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, lost in Tehri bypoll in Uttarakhand, the party nominee in Jangipur Abhijit Mukherjee, son of President Pranab Mukherjee, won by a narrow margin, despite the absence of Trinamool Congress in the fray.
Speaking to media persons after inducting Ajay Thapar, a confidant of Union Minister of State for External Affairs Parneet Kaur in the fold of Shiromani Akali Dal, he said the people of the country were "fed up" of price rise, "scam every second day" and "arrogance" and "insensitivity" of Congress leadership to hardships of common man.
Predicting mid-term Lok Sabha polls, Badal said UPA-II would not survive beyond the winter session of Parliament and its allies, including NCP, have already started shortlisting the candidates for next Lok Sabha polls.
He said SAD was fully prepared for Lok Sabha elections and was readying to inflict "inning defeat" on Congress in Punjab.
He alleged Congress cadre was totally "demotivated and demoralised" and claimed SAD was flooded with the requests from Congress leaders making beeline to SAD.
Lashing out at Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi for "deliberately denigrating" the youth of Punjab in the context of drug use, Badal said the Congress General Secretary should have gone through the reports as it pertained to the study of a sample of 600 addicts of Amritsar district out of which 73 per cent were in the age group of 16 to 35. (more)
