In Malerkotla, Captain Amarinder Singh pledges new district

MALERKOTLA: Making a desperate bid to secure minority votes, Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday sought to turn Punjab's only Muslim-dominated constituency Malerkotla into a revenue district in the state.
Arshad Dali of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and his elder sister Razia Sultana of Congress are involved in a tight fight in Malerkotla.
The town had seen ugly violent clashes in July last year following a sacrilege incident of Quran which had triggered a political controversy after SAD BJP government accused AAP's Delhi MLA Naresh Yadav of being involved the incident and arrested him from the national capital.He was later released by the court on bail after Punjab police failed to provide any strong corroborative evi dence on Yadav's alleged involvement.
“Our government would make Malerkotla a separate district on coming to power and Muslims of Punjab would be given the same benefits as being provided to Dalits,“ said Amarinder.
He refrained from directly blaming anyone from the AAP in the Malerkotla incident, but later in Barnala dubbed Arvind Kejriwal-led party a dangerous mix of extreme left and right ideologies. Prime minister Narendra Modi had made a similar charge in Faridkot earlier in the day . “Punjab would return to terrorism days if AAP is voted to power here,“ he told the crowd. Captain insisted that his government would reopen the probe into all sacrilege cases, including Malerkotla.
“I am committed to ensuring communal harmony in the state and would punish all those, including Badal, if found guilty in any of the sacrilege incidents that have vitiated Punjab's atmosphere,“ he told the gathering.
Husband of Congress candidate and Punjab police DGP Mohammad Mustafa, who is facing Election Commission's scrutiny over any help to Razia Sultana, was conspicuous by his absence.
SAD had written a scathing note to EC, asking it to forbid Mustafa from campaigning here and also accusing him of ordering police personnel to assist his wife's campaign.