Punjab Congress hails Rahul’s U.P. Yatra as campaign milestone, gets ready to welcome AICC vice president in Delhi

By Geetika Sehmay 

Chandigarh/New Delhi: The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) has hailed AICC Vice President Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s Uttar Pradesh Kisan Yatra as a major boost for the party’s campaign ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in U.P. and Punjab. Headed by PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh, a delegation of senior party leaders is in New Delhi to welcome Mr. Gandhi as he arrives in the national Capital on Thursday at the end of his 26-day U.P. yatra, during which he covered 3438 kms across 48 districts. More than 75 lakh farmers were reached during the yatra, which will culminate at Parliament Street in New Delhi tomorrow. In a show of solidarity, a 5000-strong Punjab contingent, comprising people from all walks of life from across the state, will greet Mr. Gandhi’s cavalcade at Vijay Ghat. Led by Capt Amarinder Singh they will join Mr. Gandhi as he moves towards Parliament Street to address Congress workers from various states. Lauding the success of Mr. Gandhi’s yatra, Capt Amarinder Singh said it had paved the way for similar state-level programmes in the run-up to the polls. However, he said the impact of the yatra would be felt even beyond the elections since Mr. Gandhi had succeeded in feeling the pulse of the farmers. With the promise of loan waiver for farmers. Mr. Gandhi has, through this show of strength, set the tone for the polls by projecting the Congress as a people’s party, Capt Amarinder said. He has shown that the Congress is the only party that understands the problems of the ordinary people, including the farmers. He asserted that the Congress has emerged as the only party that could free the people of the corrupt and greedy dispensations in both U.P. and Punjab, followed by the Modi Government at the Centre. Cognizant of the sufferings of the farmers, Capt Amarinder has already announced loan farmer for Punjab farmers once his government is in power.

Congress accuses AAP of now stealing its affordable housing idea 

Chandigarh: The Punjab Congress today ridiculed the Aam Aadmi Party for stealing yet another idea from the Congress by announcing affordable housing. "AAP has scored a hattrick in stealing Congress ideas for its manifesto," PCC Vice President Rana Gurjeet Singh said here. Reacting to AAP Manifesto Committee Convener Kanwar Sandhu's announcement on the issue, Rana said Capt Amarinder Singh had been saying for the last six months that the Congress government will provide 5 marla free plots and money for constructing houses to the poor. The AAP has now picked up the idea and announced its “affordable housing” agenda. In fact, said Rana, the PCC president had also already announced not only the regularisation of all the unauthorised colonies but also all the basic amenities for these colonies. "People still recall Capt Amarinder's tenure when the property and real estate market witnessed an unprecedented boom and they are looking forward to same good times ahead again," he said, pointing out that business in the state was flourishing under the Congress regime.. The Punjab Congress vice president said it was for the third consecutive time the AAP had copied the Congress idea thus scoring a hattrick. He pointed out that first they copied the idea of jobs, then loan waiver and now affordable housing.  

When schools can open in border areas, why displace residents: Amarinder 

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, Capt Amarinder Singh has asked Chief Minister Badal to explain why the residents of the border areas could not stay back in their homes when schools were being reopened there. “You are clearly losing it,” the Captain told Badal, asking, “What is the point in opening the schools when you are forcing people to evacuate?” In a statement issued here Capt. Amarinder said the state government’s decision to open the schools in the border areas clearly vindicated the Congress stand that the Akali-BJP government was just whipping up war hysteria in the border areas for its political ends. Questioning the logic behind opening the schools when the residents had already been forcibly evacuated, Captain Amarinder asked, “Who will go to the schools when there is nobody staying in those areas.” In fact, he said, neither schools should have been closed nor evacuations carried out in the first instance. “Now that the schools have been opened, the government should facilitate the return of the residents also on priority basis,” he demanded.

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