Winnability to be only criteria for selecting candidates: Amarinder

Mansa: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said that "winnability" will be the sole criteria for selecting party candidates for the 2017 assembly elections.

Talking to reporters along the sidelines of the 'Halke Vich Captain' programme here, the PCC president said, the party had already started the process of identifying the candidates.

He said various surveys by independent agencies were being carried out to assess the performance and winnability of the ticket aspirants.

On whether all sitting MLAs will be renominated, he said it will depend on the winnability and if some sitting candidates will need to be replaced, they will be.
He made it categorically clear that winnability will be the sole criteria for the nomination of the candidates.

To a question on CBI appealing against the acquittal of Sajjan Kumar in the anti-Sikh riots case of 1984, Amarinder said it was a welcome move as justice must be done and guilty punished.

He said the case must be thoroughly probed without any delay and hoped that justice will be finally done.

On Kumar's alleged involvement in the riots, Singh said when he met the victims in Delhi gurdwaras immediately after the riots on November 1, 2 and 3, 1984 they named him (Kumar) along with HKL Bhagat, Lalit Maken, Dharam Dass Shastri and Arjan Dass.

Asked what purpose will Congress MPs' and MLAs' mass resignations serve against the SYL verdict in case it goes against Punjab, he said Congress will go back to the people and seek their support so that it has adequate numbers in the Vidhan Sabha to bring in a law to save Punjab's water.

"There are always legal, legislative and constitutional means to correct a wrong and we will do that only by bringing in a law the way we did in 2004 by passing the Termination of Agreements Act," he pointed out, while regretting that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal wasted all these options when he could easily avail these.