Amrinder, Bajwa lock horns, Cong advises restraint

Locked in a bitter feud with Punjab Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa, former chief minister Amrinder Singh today lashed out at his rival for claiming he was planning to form his own party, calling it "schizophrenic symptoms of a failed and frustrated man".
Bajwa, whose replacement as PCC chief has been sought by Amarinder, had yesterday claimed the former chief minister was all set to form a party and have an alliance with BJP ahead of the Punjab assembly polls in early 2017. He had asked the party high command to expel Amrinder before it is "too late".
"It is natural for a failed and frustrated man like Bajwa to fulminate like this and clutch at the straws as he sees his removal imminent and inevitable," Amarinder said in a statement before leaving on a private visit to London.

"Had he (Bajwa) spent as much energy and resources in working for the party, as he is spending in hallucinating about my forming a new party, naming it and even imagining the date and place for its announcement, I am sure he would have been surely in a better and stable state of mind today," the former Chief Minister said.
Bajwa had claimed that Amarinder was only "using" Congress party to plan his own political future and that he will form his own outfit "Punjab Vikas Party" by April next.
"Congress is a party of the common man and has no place for royalty (Amrinder is the scion of the royal family of Patiala). It is time he should be shown the door and expelled from the party," Bajwa had said.

Hitting back, Amarinder said, "It is hilarious for someone like Bajwa, who already stands expelled from the hearts and minds of the people and the party workers, to seek my expulsion."

Amrinder said Congress workers from all over Punjab have already pronounced the verdict on the matter by marking mammoth presence in his (Amarinder's) political rallies, while rejecting Bajwa to the extent that his entry to these public meetings was forbidden by the organisers and common workers.
As the war of words broke about between the two rivals, AICC urged for restraint.
"Both leaders should avoid making statements against each other. My appeal to them is that they should stop attacking each other as such attacks and counter attacks through media damage the party," AICC incharge for Punjab Shakeel Ahmed said.