AMRITSAR: A day before filing his nomination papers, Congress party's Gurdaspur Lok Sabha by-election candidate Sunil Jakhar challenged all the major political opponents for an open debate on the issue of performance of Congress government in the state. While snubbing the political leaders who are denouncing Congress government in Punjab at the helm of their voice, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Jakhar who is a close confident of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh told TOI on Thursday "Let there be an open debate between me, BJP president Vijay Sampla, SAD(B) president Sukhbir Singh Badal and AAP's Bhagwant Maan on the issues of state especially on the development".He said those who were criticizing Punjab's Congress government were actually hiding their own shortcomings. Stating that opposition appears to be in too hurry in evaluating the performance of Congress government, he said " Nobody puts you to exams in six months time, not even in schools, they also conduct annual examinations , yet I am sure Congress government in Punjab has a very exemplary track record in past six months" said he adding that let the people know what Congress have done and it was their right also.About the reports of discontentment among Congress leadership of Majha for ignoring them over Jakhar by party high command, he said "Every body has the right to express its views, I would say the biggest strength of our party or you may call the weakness is that we have a problem of plenty, too many capable, competent and winning candidates are with us , the experienced people who have worked at booth level and have direct connect with the grassroots level worker".He said it was unfortunate that when somebody puts a contrarian views people tries to accentuate that only . "I don't think there is any discontentment" he said. Asked if there was a celebrity in opposition contesting elections, he said "We don't go by strength or weakness of opponent, we will go by our own agenda, we have our own track record, we have our own policies, who is the opposition candidate doesn't' make any difference" adding that every party would try to put the best foot forward , Congress had no grudge or scared but was complacent. About Congress party's poll plank, Jakhar said "unemployment, farmers distress, border area issues, these are some of the issues which are particular to border belt and Punjab" he saidMeanwhile four candidates filed their nomination papers for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bye elections slated for October 11th. AAP's Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bye election candidate Maj General (retd.) Suresh Khajuria filed his nomination papers on Thrusday . His wife Tripta Kumari also filed nomination papers as a covering candidate. Rajinde Singh and Santosh Kumari also filed their nomination papers on the tickets of Hindustan Shakti Sena and Megh Disham Party respectively. Earlier on September 19th an independent candidate Pardeep Kumar had also filed his nomination papers. September 22nd, is the last date for filing of nomination papers.

Stay updated with all the Amritsar Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.