PPP-Congress candidate Manpreet Badal with Congress leaders at an election meeting at Ajit Singh Bhatti’s residence in Bathinda on Wednesday.
BATHINDA – After a breakfast meeting with former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in Patiala, Manpreet Singh Badal, Congress-PPP candidate for the Bathinda seat, today launched his campaign.
He met Congress leaders from Budhlada, Mansa and Bathinda and sought their support in this “epic battle” against sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Manpreet also met leaders of the Malwa Brahmin Sabha and the Mini Bus Operators Union. Talking to mediapersons at Budhlada, Manpreet said the Chief Minister seemed to have “lost his mental balance” by claiming that he (Manpreet) had committed political suicide by joining hands with the Congress. He said he would formally launch his campaign on March 14 from Takht Damdama Sahib, Talwandi Sabo.
He said the CM had no right to question him as he had himself fought on Congress ticket and symbol in 1957. Manpreet was all praise for the Congress saying that at the time of independence less than 400 villages had power supply but now more than six lakh villages were covered.
He claimed that the battle for Bathinda would be one of the toughest in the country, but he was confident of victory as he was fighting for principles. “The Badal family did not worry about their relative when they threw him out of the party,” he said.
On allegations that he betrayed the PPP workers and leaders and left the path he had claimed to follow at Khatkar Kalan, Manpreet said the PPP was very much alive as he would fight the election on its symbol (kite) and not the Congress symbol. He said the PPP would have ceased to exist had he followed Bhagwant Mann who wanted the party to merge with the Aam Aadmi Party.
Manpreet was accompanied by Congress disciplinary committee member and former Deputy Speaker of Vidha Sabha Jaswant Singh Fafre. He met Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, Congress MLA from Sardulgarh, and Bikramjit Mofar, president, Mansa District Congress Committee.
In Bathinda, Manpreet held meetings with MLA Ajaib Singh Bhatti and local Congress leaders. He had reportedly met former Congress MLA and Bathinda ticket aspirant Harmandir Jassi two days ago.
The Chief Minister seems to have lost his mental balance by claiming that he (Manpreet) has committed political suicide by joining hands with the Congress. He has no right to question me as he himself had fought on the Congress ticket and symbol in 1957.
The PPP is very much alive as I will fight the election on its symbol (kite) and not the Congress symbol. The PPP would have ceased to exist had I followed Bhagwant Mann who wanted the party to merge with the Aam Aadmi Party.
