Capt for ‘broader alliance’,Manpreet says no hurry

The Congress leader said he had spoken to several political leaders including Manpreet,Joginder Dayal of the Communist Party of India and Avatar Singh Karimpuri of the Bahujan Samaj Party and all had expressed concern about the plight of common man burdened with heavy taxes.

Amarinder’s move,sources in the state Congress,said is aimed at outwit both his detractors in the party and the ruling SAD-BJP regime. “If the Opposition parties join the dharnas on September 7,Amarinder will succeed in forging an alliance against the government and also silence his opponents within the party. If they do not,he still manages to project himself as the real champion of the cause of the common man,” a senior Congress leader said.

Ironically,Amarinder,who had just before the January Assembly polls categorically ruled out an alliance with Manpreet,is now not averse to joining hands with the former finance minister.

However,Manpreet is in no hurry to bite the bait. “We will take a call on whether to support the Congress dharnas in a meeting of our alliance partners (CPI,CPM and SAD Barnala) on September 4. We have already launched our protests against the new taxes,” Manpreet said.

He added it was too early to think about a “broader alliance”. “Right now,our focus is building the party’s infrastructure at the grassroot level. It is still not time to talk about 2014 parliamentary elections nor have we held any formal talks in this regard with any party,” the PPP chief added.

Meanwhile,the war within Congress rages on. Amarinder’s detractors who have revived their campaign to oust him,on Monday boycotted the meeting held at Chandigarh to mobilise party rank and file for the September 7 dharnas . Amarinder had invited all sitting and former MLAs,senior leaders and district presidents,but many,including the contenders for the top post such as former CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal,MP Pratap Singh Bajwa and former PPCC presidents Mohinder Kaypee and Shamsher Dullo,did not attend the meeting.

“Amarinder is trying to show that he is taking all party leaders along. But it is clear that he is trying to salvage his own position,” one of his detractors said. But Amarinder’s team contends that the tremendous response to his two rallies may put him firmly in the saddle till 2014 general elections.