Punjab polls contest between Congress, AAP: Amarinder

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Sunday said the contest in the 2017 assembly elections in the state will be between his party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as four AAP leaders joined the Congress.

"Our survey says the fight is between the Congress and the AAP. The (ruling) SAD-BJP alliance is nowhere. The AAP will be number 2 (in the elections)," Amarinder Singh said.

"AAP's graph in Punjab is declining every day. They have absolutely no standing in the state and have brought 50,000 people from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for campaigning," he added.

Welcoming AAP leaders -- C.M. Lakhanpal, P.K. Sharma, Iqbal Pannu and Barpur Singh -- who joined the Congress, Amarinder Singh accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of fooling the people and called him a "liar".

He dismissed as humbug Kejriwal's charges of a nexus between the Congress and the Akalis.

"Kejriwal and his team are spreading misinformation, and circulating pictures to mislead the people. I met Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal only once, to offer condolences on his wife's death," the Congress leader said.

About Kejriwal's promise to appoint a Dalit as Deputy Chief Minister if his party came to power in Punjab, Amarinder Singh dismissed it as "fraudulent".

"Kejriwal has no Sikh or Dalit minister in Delhi and is merely trying to befool the people of Punjab through such misleading statements," he said.

--IANS

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