Punjab: Congress leaders go coach to coach

BATHINDA: While 1,388 migrants boarded the Shramik Express train from Bathinda railway station for Muzaffarpur in Bihar on Sunday, Punjab Congress MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and office-bearers of Bathinda district Congress committee tried to score brownie points. Warring, district Congress committee president Arun Wadhawan, Bathinda Improvement Trust chairperson KK Aggarwal and other party leaders went from compartment to compartment to tell passengers that Congress paid for their journey.
The Congress leaders told those who boarded the train that AICC interim president Sonia Gandhi, CM Amarinder Singh and the Congress party paid the fare for the tickets. An AAP MLA, who was at the station, said the Congress was just trying to take mileage out of the issue.
The Congress leaders had even got a banner with photos of Sonia, Capt Amarinder, Rahul Gandhi, Punjab Congress in-charge Asha Kumari, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal and MLA Raja Warring. They also had got paper bills with pictures which were provided to passengers with directions to read these during the journey.
Warring and other workers kept on praising Sonia, Amarinder and Congress while flagging off the train.
AAP MLA Aman Arora termed the happenings as “cheap politics”. “Sonia Gandhi had asked state units to pay fare, but in Punjab, state government has paid for it, which is unjustified and putting a burden on people,” he said.
Warring was not available for comment. Bathinda district Congress president Arun Wadhawan said they were informing people about the fare being paid already, so that no one could take any money from them.