'Conspiracies' to weaken Cong to be defeated, says Warring over Navjot Kaur's Rs 500 cr remark

Chandigarh, Dec 9 (PTI) Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Tuesday asserted that all "conspiracies" aimed at weakening the party in the state will be defeated.

Warring's statement came amid his party facing flak from rival political parties following Navjot Kaur Sidhu's "Rs 500 crore for chief minister's chair" remark that sparked a political row.

"Current controversy has been created to divert public attention and shift discourse from AAP's brutal abuse of police force in the zila parishad and block samiti elections," noted Warring in a statement here.

AAP was on the defensive and such sensational but baseless claims may provide them a breather from public scrutiny, he said.

"When everyone was talking about the abuse of police force and AAP was not having any answers, the attention was instantly diverted with sensational claims which have no base or truth in them", he asserted.

"Both the BJP and AAP are masters in diverting attention with such tactics by using their past and prospective leaders for the purpose," he said.

He reiterated that only the Congress was in a position to provide a stable and reliable alternative to the Aam Aadmi Party, which had "completely failed" Punjab and the Punjabis.

Refusing to be drawn towards some recent statements, the Ludhiana MP said that the party was being run by the grassroots cadres and leaders who have been fighting everyday battles on the ground facing intimidation and harassment by the AAP government and not those who try to wake up at the time of elections only after seeing the prospects of the party coming back to power.

"It is understandable why this noise is being raised just when the state is entering into the electoral mode," he observed.

Without naming Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Warring said, "Since the Congress is the only party that is certain to replace AAP in 2027, some people without any base of their own have started speaking the language of our enemies." The Punjab Congress president said that such statements were scripted somewhere else to divert the public attention from the blatant abuse of law and police by the AAP government for which it is being cornered from all sides.

Navjot Kaur is the wife of former Punjab Congress president and ex-India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu. On Monday, the Punjab Congress suspended Kaur from primary membership for her "cash for chair" remark that sparked a political row.

Speaking to reporters on December 6, Kaur had said her husband will return to active politics if the Congress declares him as the party's chief ministerial face in Punjab.

She had further said they did not have money to give to any party but can transform Punjab into a "golden state".

"We always speak for Punjab and Punjabiyat... but do not have Rs 500 crore which we can give to sit in chief minister's chair," she told reporters on Saturday after meeting Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on issues, including alleged deteriorating law and order in the state.

Asked if anybody demanded money from them, she said nobody has demanded but the "one who gives a suitcase of Rs 500 crore, he becomes the CM". PTI CHS KSS KSS