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Amarinder opposes alliance with Left

Staff Correspondent

"They have failed to transfer their votes"

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday opposed forging an electoral alliance with the Left parties for the forthcoming Assembly polls in the State, though he was open to making "other" adjustments with like-minded political elements at a suitable time.

Talking to reporters, Capt. Singh cited his personal experience as president of the State unit of the Congress in the 2002 Assembly, when the party came to power, to argue that the Left parties had failed to transfer their votes to the Congress. He said that Left parties collected their workers from all over the State to work only in the constituencies where their candidates had been fielded.

When his attention was drawn to a statement by the Punjab PCC president Shamsher Singh Dullo favouring an alliance with the Left, Capt. Singh said that while he would discuss the matter at the State level, he had apprised the party high command of the "ground realities".

Responding to another issue raised by Mr. Dullo about allocation of party tickets for the elections, Capt. Singh claimed that no Akali leader who could be described as a "Khalistani" had joined the party. While asserting that it would be improper to describe every Akali as a "Khalistani", he said that "winnability" of the respective candidate would be the sole criterion for allocation of party tickets for the forthcoming polls.

In response to another question, Capt. Singh denied any knowledge that President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had expressed "unhappiness" over his absence when the latter visited Chandigarh and Punjab recently.

He explained that the Congress president and the Prime Minister had granted him permission for a private visit to Dubai, for which the schedule had been prepared much before the President's visit was announced.

While he sought to explain that some "urgent personal matters" required him to visit Dubai, Capt. Singh refused to react to the media campaign launched by the Shiromani Akali Dal on the issue.

He said that it was a practice with Akalis to tarnish the image of the Congress leaders, whom they feared politically.

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