LUDHIANA: Prominent Congress leader from Sahnewal in Punjab's Ludhiana district Satwinder Bitti has revolted after party denied ticket to her and instead Vikram Bajwa (son-in-law of former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal) was fielded from the constituency.
Threatening to contest as an independent candidate, Bitti — also a known singer and former national level hockey player — without naming anyone levelled accusations that Congress has played into the hands of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and given its candidate a "walkover by fielding a weak candidate".
Bitti had contested the 2017 assembly elections of state on Congress ticket from Sahnewal where she lost to SAD’s Sharanjit Singh Dhillon by a narrow margin of 4,511 votes.
A furious Satwinder Bitti said, “I am shocked that despite giving slogans of 'Ladki hun lad sakti hun', its key leader Priyanka Gandhi is silent over such treatment being meted out to the women of her party, particularly the ones like me who faced turbulent situations to make inroads of Congress in the constituency like Sahnewal which for a decade is being ruled by the SAD."
"The decision to field a weak candidate from Sahnewal has been taken by some nefarious elements from the party in connivance with the SAD so that their candidate wins and Congress loses,” she said.
Bitti added, “While I am feeling humiliated, I cannot ignore the aspirations and hopes of my supporters and workers who are of the view that I need to contest elections. Therefore, I have decided that I will soon file my nomination from Sahnewal constituency as an independent candidate and it is up to the Congress high command now to either reverse its decision.”
