ROPAR Jagmeet Singh Bran dissident Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Faridkot, last week, said that he was preparing ground to give a tough fight to the Congress candidate’s sponsored by the Chief Minister, Beant Singh, in the next Assembly elections. He also hinted at an alliance with the Akali Dal CY and the Bahujan Samaj party (BSP).

In an exclusive interview with Indian Express, here, after a pub Me meeting, Brar said that he would submit a parallel list of candidates to the party high command for all the 117 Assembly seats, as Beant Singh represented only a section At the Punjab Congress men having vested interests. He warned that if the party refused to issue tickets in candidates sponsored by him, he would forge an alliance with likeminded parties. ‘Then Ext elections, Brar declared, would be fought on the issue of granting “internal autonomy” to Punjab. He disclosed that draft paper defining autonomy would be released at a conference Mudki in Ferozepur district, on December 18; He asserted that the present Congress leadership in Punjab had failed to live up the aspirations of its people.

Declaring that he would not hesitate to strike an alliance with the Akali Dal (Badal) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on the minimum program of seeking “internal autonomy,” Brar revealed that he had held direct talks with the Akali Dal (Badal) President, Parkash Singh Badal and other leaders of various political parties. The Congress MP said that he was touring all the districts of the state to mobilize people for the Mucki conference, which would conclude the second phase of Lok yudh morcha. He would intensively tour: the entire village in the state during the third phase of this morcha.

Disclosing that he would sponsor resolution seeking autonomy for Punjab in the state legislative Assembly if the electorate gave a verdict in favor of his policies, he said that he had also chalked outa nine point demand draft to be submitted to Center.

Claiming that there was a strong anti-Punjab lobby both in the state and at the Center, Brar said that the motive behind his morcha was to create a strong pro Punjab lobby. He regretted that even the Prime Minister, Narasimha Rao, had gone back on his promise of writing off Rs 6600 crore loan to the state. He wondered why Punjab which had fought a national war against terrorism should repay the loan money; Brar said that he had been emphasizing upon the Central high command the need to redraft the party’s Punjab police. Blaming Beant Singh of making a mockery of the democratic system by indulging in corrupt practices and nepotism even in the panchayati and municipal elections, Brar said that the election of the wives, sons and other relatives of the top brass to public offices was the biggest fraud with the people of the state.

While addressing a public meeting, here, at the Boat Club, Brar said that the Chief Minister, Beant Singh, committed a blunder by sending Punjab Police commandos to other states.

He strongly condemned the crackdown on Akali Dal (Badal) workers to prevent them from going to Delhi for a rally. He also warned the state government against restricting the movement of his supporters on December 18 for the Mudki conference. The meeting was attended by lawyers, panches and sarpanches beside activists of political parties.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 9, 1994