Even as the two parties join hands as part of grand alliance against the NDA, Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa Thursday said there will be no alliance with the AAP in Punjab. Bajwa also said they have already informed the party's central leadership about the stand of the party cadre and leaders in Punjab.

Bajwa's reaction came a day after Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said his party will continue to fight against the ruling AAP over public issues in the state. Since the grand alliance, the Congress, which is the main opposition party, has been under an attack from the BJP and the Akali Dal, which had accused it of becoming "the government party" in Punjab by becoming part of the pact.

The AAP in Delhi had agreed to come to Bengaluru on Tuesday for a meeting of the opposition parties only after the Congress threw its lot behind it on the ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi. Bajwa, when asked about the possibility of an alliance with the AAP, said the state wing will not join hands with AAP and has informed the party leadership in Delhi about its decision.

"We are not even ready to see their faces and you are talking about a coalition. Who will enter into coalition with them? They are anti-Punjab," Bajwa said, and also slammed the Bhagwant Mann-led state government for its "ill-preparedness" in the face of recent floods. Bajwa, however, said the Congress will always stand against the BJP for interfering into the functioning of the elected governments through governors and lieutenant governors.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, meanwhile, asked Congress to stop "deceiving" the people of Punjab with its "fake and theatrical" visits to the Governor to raise flood victims' problems. A delegation of senior Punjab Congress leaders Thursday met Governor Banwarilal Purohit, seeking from the Centre Rs 10,000 crore to compensate for the losses suffered by the state in the recent floods. "They should go to their own Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann now and urge him to not just announce but actually provide liberal relief to the flood-ravaged people in the state," Majithia said.

"The erstwhile Congress in Punjab is now officially a wing of the AAP. So, they are a part of the government," said Majithia, who had earlier the called the pact between the two parties an "unholy wedlock." "They only appear as two separate entities. The Congress has abdicated its place in Punjab to AAP. Therefore, instead of wasting the time of the people and of the Governor, Raja Warring and his men should now go to their own CM's, Mann's, residence to get their demands fulfilled," the Akali Dal leader said.

The former minister had earlier even written to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker urging him to shift Congress members' seats to the treasury benches.

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(Edited by : Sangam Singh)

First Published:Jul 20, 2023 10:57 PM IST