For PM, Amarinder is Punjab's brand name for next five years

Amritsar -- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday profusely praised Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for carrying out developmental works and said if he is voted back to power the state would make more progress.

"The Amarinder Singh government has brought in infrastructure development to the tune of Rs.1 lakh crore (Rs.1 trillion). If you vote him back to power, he will bring more development to this state," the prime minister said at the first of his four rallies before state elections Feb 13.

"The Congress is the only progressive party in the country," he added, as he got into the heat and dust of campaigning for the assembly elections and the Amritsar Lok Sabha by-poll.

He told voters that it was in their interest to elect a Congress government as the centre too had a Congress-led government.

The prime minister, who will be addressing rallies in the state Monday and Tuesday, particularly sought votes for state Finance Minister Surinder Singla who is contesting against cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu in a bitter electoral fight for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

Manmohan Singh, who belongs to this Sikh holy city, said Singla was the most able candidate to be elected to the Lok Sabha from here.

"Punjab's financial affairs were in a mess when the Akalis went out of power in 2002. Singla has ensured that the state's coffers are full. I plead that you all vote for him," said the prime minister, who arrived here amid tight security.

"The destiny of Amritsar is in your hands," he said at the rally venue in Ranjit Avenue, winding up his speech with the Sikh religious invocation "Wahe guru ji da Khalsa, wahe guru ji di fateh".

The Amritsar by-election was necessitated by Sidhu's resignation as MP after he was convicted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Dec 1 for causing the death of a man in 1988 in an incident of road rage.

Sidhu has again been fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiromani Akali Dal alliance in Punjab after the Supreme Court last month stayed his conviction.