Edited excerpts:
Former India hockey captain Pargat Singh , who has been elected as the new Punjab Congress chief, told HT in an interview that his predecessor Amrinder Singh Raja Warring will support him, and that while the party has several chief ministerial candidates, they will fight the upcoming state elections together under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi .
Because we are part of a team, he has a big responsibility. He is our ex-PCC chief and a Member of Parliament. I am a team player so everybody has a role to play. We might be vocal about other things, but it shows we have internal democracy. Democracy demands that discussion must be held to arrive at the best outcome. I’m confident that he will support me and the Congress party. His support is necessary for Punjab and the state is a brand that is now in a bad shape. We have to re-establish the brand. They are looters. They put on a facade, claiming they would bring in the Lokpal and enact laws so stringent that corruption would be eliminated. Yet, corruption has now reached even the chief minister’s office. The AAP has systematically dismantled our institutions and our democracy. You have to understand Punjabi emotions. They played on emotions once. But the next time, you actually have to deliver results. A handful of people — Kejriwal , Sisodia, and others — are running the whole show. Kejriwal is running the Punjab government. I believe Punjab has no other option but to vote the Congress to power.
