By IANS,
Rajpura (Punjab) : Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh returned to the state he ruled till two months ago, to a rousing reception from Congress workers and over 20 legislators Wednesday.
Covered with garlands and standing on an open jeep at the head of the cavalcade, Amarinder reached the Shambu barrier, 10 km from here, in the afternoon with Congress supporters raising slogans hailing him.
Senior Congress leaders like state Congress president Shamsher Singh Dullo and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and his former deputy chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal were conspicuous by their absence at the welcome meeting organised here.
Over 20 sitting Congress legislators, out of a total of 44, had come to receive Amarinder.
“We will stand up against the repression unleashed by the Akalis on Congress leaders and workers. We will give them a fight,” Amarinder said on his return.
He was driven to his hometown Patiala after the welcome.
Amarinder had stayed away from Punjab ever since the Feb 27 results of the state assembly elections saw the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government come back to power in Punjab.
He left for Delhi immediately after relinquishing office March 1 and subsequently went to London for a medical check-up. Though he returned to India nearly three weeks ago, he remained out of Punjab.
His absence led to a lot of speculation that Amarinder was trying to avoid coming back to Punjab as the Parkash Singh Badal government here had named him in a corruption and criminal conspiracy case.
The former chief minister has got a stay on his arrest from the Punjab and Haryana High Court till July 30.
Sources in the Punjab police said that though Amarinder Singh cannot be arrested because of the high court stay, he could be questioned regarding the Ludhiana city centre scam.
Several Congress leaders, including Amarinder, and officials have been named as beneficiaries of kickbacks for allotting the multi-billion Ludhiana city centre project to a particular builder.