First victory of Punjabis over non-Punjabis: Amarinder Singh on Kejriwal 'opting out' of CM's race

 Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today took a jibe at AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal for "sheepishly running away" from contesting the polls in Punjab after he (Amarinder) announced that he will fight him from whichever constituency he opted for.

"In any case, it is the first victory of Punjabis over non-Punjabis," he said, while reacting to Kejriwal "opting out" of the chief minister's race in Punjab and deciding to stay put as the Delhi chief minister. "Kejriwal must have realised that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush," Amarinder said, while adding, "In the overambitious zeal of becoming the Punjab chief minister, he must have realised that this could mean risking Delhi as well which is already slipping."

Reacting to an Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson's announcement yesterday that Kejriwal had decided not to contest the polls in Punjab, the state Congress chief said, "Earlier, Kejriwal was day-dreaming of becoming the Punjab chief minister. But, having realised that the ground beneath his feet was slipping, he made a timid retreat in his characteristic fugitive manner."

Amarinder said Kejriwal had "finally woken up" to the "harsh reality of Punjab politics" with most of his cadre having already deserted him in the "battle of self-respect and dignity between Punjabis and outsiders".
"It is good that he realised that Punjabis were not going to accept a non-Punjabi, a Haryanvi at that, as their leader and he ran away at the earliest given opportunity," he said, adding that AAP would do better to announce their "Punjabi chief ministerial candidate's name", if it had any.