Tript Bajwa fires salvo at ex-MLA Sekhri

BATALA: During Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president and MP Sunil Jakhar’s recent visit to Batala, leaders’ infighting came to the fore, here.

Former MLA Ashwani Sekhri and other office bearers gave the event a miss.

Commenting on the absence of Congress office bearers, cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, who took the decision to hold a meeting in Batala, launched a salvo against Sekhri.

He said “Nobody can stop an MP to hold a meeting in his own constituency. If anybody has doubts, he should clear it. Instead of indulging in infighting, we should collectively make efforts for the development of this town.”

Justifying the venue for meeting in the office of veteran Congress leader Jawahar Marwaha, he said “If he was unwilling to come to Jawahar’s office then where did he want us to organise the meeting? Did he want the meeting at the house of those BJP men, who have ruined Batala?”

About the possibilities of Congress candidate, he said “If Agnihotri (a Hindu), can win from Taran Tarn, a sikh dominated area and Lodhinangal (a Jat Sikh) can win from Batala, a Hindu dominated area, then anything is possible.However, I don’t have any interest in contesting from Batala and Sekhri should not keep any such misunderstanding,” he said.

Though Sekhri denied to counter Bajwa’s allegations, but he blamed him for interfering in his constituency.

On his absence during Jakhar’s visit, Sekhri said that that he had a prior meeting fixed with Punjab chief minister captain Amarinder Singh in Chandigarh and moreover, he had not been informed about the visit.

On the issue of shifting the bus stand from inner city, Sekhri said, “If the bus stand is shifted, the business of more than 5,000 shopkeepers will be ruined.I will take up the matter with chief minister and will not let it happen.”