Singh also sought to downplay Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal's suggestion of making Jaitley as the deputy prime minister, saying they were least concerned about his observations.
“Badal can make Jaitley anything...elections are about people and people of Amritsar know me well. I have done development there. We will win,” said Singh, who had earlier expressed his reservation to jump into fray from Amritsar. Singh was not keen on contesting from Amritsar and had on Thursday suggested that a local candidate should be fielded from Amritsar.
However, a phone call from Congress President Sonia Gandhi is believed to have made all the difference. Clearing the air on the issue, Singh said he had suggested Gandhi that he wanted to campaign all over the state and spend sometime in home constituency Patiala, from where his wife Perneet Kaur is seeking re-election, but he agreed after receiving a phone call from her.
He also denied reluctance of Congress leaders to contest the Lok Sabha polls out of fear of biting the dust and said “nobody is running away...only Manish (Tewari) is not there due to health concerns, rest everybody is contesting. In Congress there is no shortage of leaders.”
He attacked the Akalis for their alleged misrule, saying corruption, nepotism, false cases against opponents and misgovernance has been the hallmark of their rule so far. He assured that he would raise the voice of people who were allegedly being victimised and persecuted by the Akalis. Polling for all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held on April 30.
Singh said, he will ensure that he came up to the expectations his nomination has generated around among the party's rank and file across the state.
“I see this as an occasion to get more closely associated with the victims of the vendetta which has been worse in this area particularly in assembly segments like Majithia falling within this parliamentary constituency,” he said.
