Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Navjot Kaur flash the victory sign after his win in Amritsar on Saturday. Tribune photo: Vishal Kumar

Amritsar, March 11

The Congress victory in Punjab is the defeat of the Badal family’s arrogance and will herald the revival of the party in the country, Navjot Singh Sidhu said on Saturday.The Congress is all set to return to power in the agrarian state where it has been out of power for a decade now.“This is the revival of the Congress. It is a beginning. The Congress will revive from here. The party will take strength from here and spread across the country,” Sidhu said addressing a press conference.He said the party’s victory is the result of people’s faith and confidence in the Congress.Sidhu said he earlier told Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi about making Punjab a leader.“This is Punjab Congress’s gift to the party leadership. It is a new year gift from our side,” he said, conceding that the Assembly poll was “a fight for existence” for the Congress.The former BJP MP, who switched over to the Congress ahead of elections, attacked the Badals, saying the people of the state had defeated the arrogance of those in power till now.“This is the destruction of Akali Dal. People have broken the arrogance of the evil and arrogance loses when atrocities touch a peak,” he said.“Thieves looted Punjab and filled their own coffers,” he said.Sidhu, who contested from Amritsar East, which was held by his wife and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Navjot Kaur, also took a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying he was “the principal of the school where he studied”.He said the paid trolls that the AAP convener carried out on social media to make wrong projections during elections had been defeated. “The truth never gets defeated,” he said.“Now the arrogance has been shown the door,” he said, adding that the Congress would provide new energy to the state. “Kejriwal’s intentions were wrong… he wanted everything for himself,” he said, adding, “for Badals it was everything for their personal welfare”.“Congress will always fight for the rights of people of Punjab,” he said.The cricketer-turned-politician said “it is the biggest victory of party workers”.He expressed confidence that the Congress after coming to power in the state would work selflessly for the progress of Punjab and would not act with any sense of vendetta against its opponents.On the issue of drugs, he said a stringent law would be made to end the menace.“People have a lot of expectation from the Congress and we will strive hard to fulfill them,” he said.The Congress will take measures to end farm suicides, he said.“By giving a decisive verdict in favour of Punjab, the seeds of prosperity have been sown,” he said.Punjab would set an example of good governance and state’s empty coffers would be refilled, he said. Punjab’s lost glory would be brought back, an elated Sidhu said. PTI