Brar Wants Captain, Bhattal To Contest LS Polls In Patiala

Days after being dropped from the Congress Working Committee (CWC), senior party leader Jagmeet Singh Brar on Wednesday said there was an urgent need for the state unit to introspect and field its stalwart leaders to take on the SAD-BJP alliance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Brar said that the former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh is the most suitable stalwart to contest from Bathinda against Akali MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. Similarly, PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa can take on revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia, who is being projected by the Akalis as undisputed leader of the Majha region. And Rajinder Kaur Bhattal can take on SAD general secretary Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa in Sangrur,

Addressing a press conference here, Brar said his only objective to have Congress veterans in the Lok Sabbha fray was to decimate the Badals, who were thinking of ruling Punjab for 25 years by stifling and suppressing democracy in the state.

Brar added that he thinks people who held important positions in the state government as well as in the party set-up are the only ones who can defeat the Akalis in the Lok Sabha polls. Unknown entities would not be able to withstand the muscle and money power the Badals use to win polls. He said that is ready to contest from Bathinda against Harsimrat in case the party so desires.

Brar began his press briefing by thanking Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for allowing him to serve the party for nearly 32 years in various capacities.

Brar said that all three of them now wanted him to make use of his political experience to infuse fresh blood and life into the party cadres in Punjab which have been largely demoralized by successive defeats in the assembly polls and also in the by-elections, adding that during his career he had contested nine elections in Punjab but won only two.

He said that he had lost most of his elections because he had to take on the Badals. He doesn’t regret it because in 1999, he had defeated Sukhbir Badal from the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat when he was a union minister in the NDA government and his father was the CM.

When told that he has been given no official post to serve the party in Punjab, Brar said office or no office; he would continue to work hard for galvanizing the party cadres in the state. “Brar said that he hopes they give him some office, but even without it he will work for the party.

On his coordination with Bajwa, Brar said not many knew that both of them were classmates for eight years at Punjab Public School, Nabha
Jagmeet Singh Brar is in favor of an alliance with People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) president Manpreet Singh Badal in the Lok Sabha polls. When asked if Manpreet could also contest from Bathinda as a joint candidate of the Congress and the PPP, Brar said it would not be a bad choice.

Brar also expressed his desire to fight the assembly polls and said in case the party agreed he would like to contest from the Muktsar segment, which is his hometown.