‘Never sought Congress ticket; BJP will win by massive margin’
CHANDIGARH:A day after filing his nomination for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, Swaran Salaria on Saturday said he did not expect a contest from the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) nominees and exuded confidence that the saffron party would retain the seat with a “massive” margin.
The Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat, a stronghold of the BJP, fell vacant after the sitting MP, actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna, died of cancer in a Mumbai hospital on April 27. Khanna was a four-time MP from Gurdaspur.
The BJP had on September 21 named Salaria as its candidate for the October 11 bypoll. Khanna’s wife Kavita was also a frontrunner for the BJP ticket in the bypoll.
Salaria, 63, a business tycoon, lashed out at chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh for the latter’s remarks against him.
Amarinder had on Friday taken a jibe at Salaria saying, “What can he (Salaria) do for the (Gurdaspur) constituency when he failed to run his own Chintpurni Medical College in Pathankot, jeopardising the career of 1,800 students.”
He had also said the high court had ordered the closure of the college and the state government had sought permission from the Medical Council of India (MCI) to accommodate the students in other medical colleges of the state.
Asked to respond to Amarinder’s remarks, Salaria said: “The Chintpurni Medical College was shut when I took over. I tried to revive it. You (Amarinder) should support and admire me for this. The college is in Punjab and it is your (Amarinder’s) responsibility as well to run it.”
He also rejected Amarinder’s claims that he had approached him for a Congress ticket in the bypoll. “Amarinder is a senior leader and I respect him a lot. He should not level such false allegations,” Salaria said.
“I am a successful businessman. I own an airline, hotels, restaurants and a security company. I have a workforce of more than 70,000 people,” he added.
Salaria said he did not expect any contest in the bypoll. “This seat belongs to the BJP and we will again win it with a huge margin,” he said.
The Congress has fielded senior leader Sunil Jakhar in the bypoll, while Major General Suresh Kumar Khajuria (retd) of the AAP is also in the fray.
“Jakhar has been brought from a distance of 400km (from Gurdaspur) by the Congress to fight the bypoll. How can he win it?” he wondered.
On the AAP candidate, Salaria said: “Khajuria has never been seen working for the welfare of the people of this constituency.”
The BJP nominee claimed that he had been serving the people of the area for the last 15 years.
“My family members, including my mother, sister, live in Gurdaspur and Pathankot,” said Salaria, who is a native of Chauhana village in Gurdaspur district.
“I will highlight the achievements and policies of the threeyear-old Modi government at the Centre when I go to the people to seek their votes. There are several initiatives, such as demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), taken by the government. Moreover, there is no allegation of corruption of even a single paisa against this government,” Salaria said.
The BJP candidate also said he would “expose” the Congress government in Punjab for “failing to honour even a single promise it had made to the voters” before the state assembly polls earlier this year.
“What has the Congress done in the last six months? They had made tall claims before the voters and now they are funding themselves unable to live up to their expectations. The people are angry with them,” he claimed.
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Jakhar has been brought from a distance by the Congress to fight the bypoll and Khajuria has never been seen working for the welfare of the people of this constituency. SWARAN SALARIA, BJP candidate