Bir Devinder resigns as PPP chief spokesman

Devinder,when contacted,said he has resigned as the party president was unavailable and not open for consultations. “He is putting the party’s fate in the lap of defeated people like Surjit Singh Barnala,who is deadwood,who cannot even get up on his own. Manpreet takes his own decisions. If he does not mend his ways,I will be left with no option but to say a final goodbye,” he added.

Reacting sharply to Manpreet’s observation in a section of the press on Tuesday about his ‘shelf life’,Devinder said it was difficult to swallow such a comment. “I thank him for being so smartly observant with regard to the shelf life of his senior colleagues. And why did he make me chief spokesman if he was so sure of the short span of my shelf life,” he said.

In his letter,Devinder said former MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon,whose father was his great friend,had been pivotal in his joining Manpreet. “But he too left Manpreet owing to his style of functioning and so have many others. All those close to him,deserted him sooner than later. There must be some manufacturing defect or grave disorder in the shelf,which is fast decaying.”

Devinder also blamed Manpreet for “exerting emotional pressure” on him to contest the polls from Mohali. “I had politely declined your offer. But you again called me the day after and sought my consent and this time I responded affirmatively. I contested the election with my own moderate resources in the absence of any financial or logistic support from the party. We all lost the elections,rather you lost from both the places you contested,” reads Devinder’s letter to Manpreet.

The PPP chief,however,played down the controversy as “signs of healthy democracy within the PPP.” “I don’t understand what upset him. As a matter of respect for 88-year-old Barnala,his status as former CM and governor and patron of Sanjha Morcha I agreed to his request for change of venue. Since party presidents of Malwa region had been called for the first meeting and it was easier for them to travel to Barnala,the party meeting too was shifted there,” Manpreet added.

On autocratic accusations,he said Devinder had not attended a single meeting of the party earlier nor did he campaign for the Dasuya bypoll and MC elections. “It is easy to criticise and we are not here to take people on a joyride,” he said,adding that he will meet Devinder when he visits Chandigarh on Thursday as Devinder believes in the PPP ideology.