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Counter-claims on Punjab `Yatra'

Staff Correspondent

"We have stormed the Akali stronghold in the Malwa belt"

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal have made counter-claims over the impact of the `Vikas Yatra' undertaken by the former.

Claiming to have stormed the Akali stronghold in the Malwa belt of Punjab, an official release here said that Capt. Singh on the third day of the first phase of the Yatra which began in Moga district on Friday evoked an enthusiastic response from the public, indicating that the people reposed full faith and confidence in the Congress party.

"The days of the Akali Dal in Punjab politics are numbered," Capt. Singh said to local reporters in the bus specially fabricated for him to undertake the tour. He said the Akali Dal president Parkash Singh Badal "could not befool the people any more as he stood exposed as the most incompetent Chief Minister in the history of the State."

Replying to a question about the absence of AICC Working Committee member Jagmeet Singh Brar from the Yatra, Capt. Singh said that every member of the party had risen to the occasion to make it a success. "If Mr. Brar has not risen, it was his problem," he quipped.

Claiming that the Yatra was a major success, Capt. Singh said he was elated to see people coming out of their houses to greet him and his companions.

On the other hand, Akali Dal general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal in a party release described the Chief Minister's road show as "this Government's antim yatra" which he said was a public nuisance.

"For five years, people of the State waited for their Chief Minister to be accessible to them. Now, with a certain exit facing him, he has decided to enact this circus."

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