Chandigarh, October 8
The ongoing feud between the Punjab CPI and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh escalated today. Countering Capt Amarinder Singh’s statement with regard to CPI Secretary Joginder Dayal, the top brass of the CPI said today that “the party was not in the habit of taking orders from other parties regarding its internal affairs. It need no sermons with regard to secularism, communalism and capitalism, especially from Capt Amarinder Singh”.
Capt Amarinder Singh had stated in Delhi yesterday that it was not possible for him to work with the CPI in Punjab under the leadership of Dr Dayal.
Hitting out at the pro-WTO policies followed by Capt Amarinder Singh’s Government, Mr Bhupinder Sambar, Mr Gurnam Kanwar, Mr Bant Singh Brar and other senior leaders of the CPI said only backward looking forces were supporting his policies but the CPI would continue its struggle against such policies. CPI leaders said while they had sincerely supported the Congress candidates in the last Assembly elections Capt Amarinder Singh and his associates put up rebel Congress candidates to defeat the CPI nominees.
Meanwhile, the national leadership of the CPI led by Mr Shamim Saizee has hit back on the Congress high command for getting two of its MLAs defected in Punjab. Sources said the top CPI leadership has warned Congress President Sonia Gandhi that it (CPI) would have no truck with the Congress in the Gujarat Assembly elections, if the Congress continued to play “dirty politics of engineering defections” in its trusted ally.
A few days ago, two CPI MLAs — Mr Gurjant Singh (Pakka Kalan) and Mr Nathu Ram (Malout) — joined the Congress.
Upset over the CPI’s protest the Congress high command yesterday asked top Punjab leaders like Hanspal and Capt Amarinder Singh as to why they had not sought the permission of the three-member committee before accepting the CPI MLAs into the Congress fold.
Sources said the CPI leadership had taken a serious view of the defection of the two CPI MLAs in Punjab.
Meanwhile, Dr Dayal said that the Punjab state executive committee of the party, which met here yesterday, had decided to continue its fight against the WTO dictated anti-people economic policies of the Central and state governments. Condemning the act of the two MLAs, the state executive committee asked them to quit their respective seats and seek a fresh mandate.
