Amid cheers from crowd, Sherry at his fiery best
Says the Congress was united and his aim was to work towards giving power back to the people
CHANDIGARH : Navjot Singh Sidhu reinvigorated the party cadres with his speech on Friday as they responded warmly to his words on the day he took over as the president of the Punjab Congress.
Executing a bat stroke in the air with a flourish before heading to the rostrum, Sidhu told the packed house that the Congress was united and his aim was to work towards giving power back to the people, inviting a loud applause from the crowd, comprising mainly party workers gathered from across the state.
“All Congress workers in Punjab have become the party’s state unit chief today. There is no difference between a leader
and a worker,” Sidhu said.
Dharam Singh, a Congress worker who had come all the way from Moga said Sidhu connects strongly with the party workers and hopefully “they
(workers) will get their due under his leadership”.
However, Sidhu, who broke the ice with the chief minister earlier in the morning over tea, touched the feet of former chief
minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and former PPCC chief Lal Singh on the stage, but not Amarinder.
In his speech, Sidhu was very clear about his well-wishers, saying, “Jede mera virodh karde hai, ho mainu behtar bnange. Jede mere honsla-afzayi karde hai…bhaji Sukh (Sukhbinder Sarkaria), Randhawa Saab (Sukhjinder Randhawa), Bibi Ji (Rajinder Kaur Bhattal), Rawat Ji...ae saare… kidda kidda naam levan (while pointing his hand towards the stage)… mera suraksha kwachh ne”.
Addressing the gathering, Amarinder praised Sidhu’s family and recalled how Sidhu’s father, late Bhagwant Singh, had asked him (Amarinder) to enter politics.
Earlier, Jakhar in his speech took potshots at the Amarinder government and even went on to say that bureaucracy ruined the Congress-led state government in Punjab. “I feel Akalian nu red carpet maar gya (referring to inauguration of Golden Plaza at Golden Temple during the previous SAD-BJP regime). Red-tapism killed our government. Bureaucracy ruined us,” said Jakhar. He said a message should go out from the government against the red-tapism in next six months.