Amarinder Singh is Congress face for Punjab poll

New Delhi: Congress Friday virtually projected Capt Amarinder Singh as its chief ministerial candidate for next year’s Punjab Assembly elections on a day it got a boost with Manpreet Singh Badal, estranged nephew of CM Parkash Singh Badal, merging his party. “The face of the Congress campaign will be Capt Amarinder Singh,” party’s campaign committee chief Ambika Soni said in the presence of Amarinder Singh, his predecessor Pratap Singh Bajwa and Punjab CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi at the AICC headquarters.

Asked whether Singh is the CM candidate, she said, “How can I say this thing now. You draw your own conclusion.” The Congress has a tradition of not projecting any CM candidate.

The question was posed to AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmed, AICC general secretary and in-charge of Punjab Congress affairs, during a joint press conference called to announce the joining of Manpreet Singh Badal and merger of his outfit People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) with Congress. Ahmed, however, asked Soni to answer it. Amarinder, who is Punjab Congress chief, said that Congress had lost the last Assembly elections in 2012 by a 0.8 per cent vote share while PPP had got 5 per cent of the votes. “Had we come together, we could have saved Punjab,” he said. Manpreet, who was the state Finance Minister in 2010, quit the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal after differences cropped up between him and his uncle Parkash Singh Badal and cousin and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

‘Government’s credibility eroding quickly’
Rahul Gandhi Friday took on PM Modi, claiming the credibility of his government has eroded and said he was surprised how this happened so fast. “It takes 2-4 years for the credibility of a government to decline but I am surprised the BJP government’s credibility has eroded very quickly,” he said, at a rally in Malad. The Modi government assumed office on May 26, 2014. Rahul inducted late singer Mohammad Rafi’s son Shahed Rafi into Congress.