Bathinda LS seat: Finally, Manpreet appeals supporters to work for BJP
More than a fortnight after Bathinda district BJP president Sarup Chand Singla wrote a letter to senior party leader Manpreet Singh Badal seeking his support for the poll campaign of party’s Bathinda Lok Sabha nominee Parampal Kaur Sidhu, the former finance minister on Sunday released a video appealing his supporters to work wholeheartedly for the ‘Punjab BJP
BATHINDA : More than a fortnight after Bathinda district BJP president Sarup Chand Singla wrote a letter to senior party leader Manpreet Singh Badal seeking his support for the poll campaign of party’s Bathinda Lok Sabha nominee Parampal Kaur Sidhu, the former finance minister on Sunday released a video appealing his supporters to work wholeheartedly for the ‘Punjab BJP’.
In a short video posted on his Facebook page in the evening, Manpreet explains his health issue (he suffered a heart attack on March 10) and cited it as a reason for lying low in public life.
Without naming anyone, the five-time MLA blamed ‘failed politicians of Punjab’ and a few journalists for spreading rumours against him.
On May 1, Singla, an old bête noire of Manpreet, had written a letter to the former minister stating that several city leaders, including former Bathinda mayor Raman Goyal, and six other municipal councillors among several others, who have an allegiance to Manpreet, are missing from the campaigning.
Singla’s letter to Manpreet was sent on the day the former Gujarat CM and Punjab BJP affairs in-charge Vijay Rupani was in Bathinda for a meeting with the party leaders on election preparedness.
On Sunday, Manpreet said only the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the ability to resolve issues of Punjab.
He urged his supporters, particularly the Punjabi youth, to work for the victory of the ‘kamal da phul’ (referring to lotus, the symbol of the saffron party) in his absence from electioneering caused by his ill health.
“Today, Punjab is subject to mockery everywhere due to the deterioration of public policy, economic, cultural and moral levels. Only capable leaders like Modi and Amit Shah can put Punjab back on track. Modi has a vision and will to implement a development plan for the state,” said Manpreet in the video statement.
Manpreet said that in the last 10 years of the BJP-led government, India has attained respectable space in geopolitics.
“I have first-hand experience in a drastic change in India’s international presence. About 45 years ago, when I went to England for higher education, I noticed a biased of the British towards India. But in the last one decade, India has witnessed immense growth in exports, investment and infrastructural development and now the country commands much respect in the global arena and it was only due to Modi’s leadership,” he added.
BJP’s Parampal Kaur Sidhu, who is a former IAS officer, is locked in a keen contest with SAD’s three-time sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Congress’ Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, agriculture minister in AAP government Gurmeet Singh Khudian and gangster-turned-politician Lakha Sidhana, who is contesting as an Independent.