Chandigarh, October 15, 2016: The Congress siege of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s residence here got another boost on Saturday as several senior party leaders visited the protesting Congress workers to express their solidarity.
Among the first to reach the dharna site and express support for the party workers this morning was Ambika Soni, AICC general secretary and chairperson of Punjab Congress Campaign Committee. Congress in-charge, Punjab Affairs, Asha Kumari; AICC Secretary Harish Choudhary; and former Punjab CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal also joined the protestors.
Several Congress legislators and workers have been camping outside Chief Minister’s Parkash Singh Badal’s residence in Chandigarh since Thursday, demanding action against senior Ludhiana police officers and punishment for Akali workers guilty of the Dussehra eve attack on Congress workers over the Chitta Ravana issue.
The visit by Soni and other senior leaders came a day after Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh joined the agitating party workers and vowed to take the anti-Akali battle to its logical conclusion. Addressing the protestors, Captain Amarinder had on Friday announced that effigies of Chitta Ravana would be burnt in all the 117 Assembly constituencies of the state as symbols of the evil regime of the Shiromani Akali Dal.
Extending their full support to the party MLAs and workers on dharna outside the gate of the CM residence, Soni and other Congress leaders today declared that they would not allow the Akali `gunda raj’ to continue in the state.
The dharna, they announced, would continue till the Badal government takes action against the erring police officials for their failure to act against the Akali goons who attacked the Congress workers in Ludhiana on Dussehra eve.
Among others sitting at the dharna are CLP chief Charanjit Singh Channi, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and Congress MLAs Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Surinder Dawar, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Rana Gurjit Singh, Randip Nabha, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Rakesh Pandey.