SANGRUR:Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today said far from bringing in any change in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) had vitiated the political atmosphere in the State by selling tickets for crores of rupees to political turncoats with criminal complaints registered against them.
Addressing public gatherings at Sangrur in favour of Vinnerjit Singh Goldy and at Barnala in favour of Kulwant Singh Kanta in Barnala, the SAD president said “Arvind Kejriwal is talking about bringing in change in Punjab. I want to ask him what change he proposes to bring in the State by selling as many as 65 out of the 117 party tickets to turncoats”.
Asserting that Kejriwal only wanted to use Punjab as a stepping stone to success, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “Kejriwal did not visit Punjab for more than four years after winning 20 seats and emerging as the principal opposition party in the State. Now also he has no commitment to Punjab. Once he loses here he will shift to Rajasthan or some other State”.
Mr Badal said Kejriwal had always followed an anti-Punjab agenda. He gave the example of how the AAP government in Delhi had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court demanding that the river waters of Punjab be transferred to Haryana and Delhi. He said similarly AAP stood for the closure of the thermal plants in Punjab and also wanted to criminalize stubble burning. “We cannot hand over our future to such a party”, he added.
The SAD president also warned Punjabis that Kejriwal would end all social welfare facilities in case they reposed faith in AAP. He said benefits like old age pension, aata-daal and shagun were not being received in Delhi. He said the AAP government was also not extending the free power facility to farmers in Delhi. He also said even the facilities announced for Punjab like Rs 1, 000 per month for all women and 300 units of free power were not implemented in Delhi. ``It is clear that Kejriwal is trying to fool Punjabis in the same manner as done by Capt Amarinder Singh earlier”.
Speaking about the SAD, Mr Badal said “we are committed to increasing the old age pension from Rs 1, 500 per month to Rs 3100 per month”. He said shagun benefit for brides from weaker sections would also be increased to Rs 75, 000. He also announced that all blue cards which had been scrapped by the Congress government would be restored within one month and that free power of 400 units per month would be given to all domestic consumers.
Asserting that the SAD had always fulfilled all the commitments made to Punjabis be it providing free power to the farm sector or making power surplus, Mr Badal said the SAD-BSP alliance was committed to give Rs 2, 000 per month to women heads of below poverty line families, Rs ten lakh student card for higher studies, Rs 10 lakh medical insurance, create one lakh government jobs and ten lakh private jobs, distribute five lakh houses free of cost to the poor and needy as well as give 5, 000 five marla plots to the poor in each constituency of the State. He also announced the price of diesel for agriculture use would be lowered by Rs 10 per liter once the SAD-BSP government was formed. He also announced that the alliance government would focus on health and education and that mega schools would be constructed at the block level to provide quality education and that a big hospital would be established in each constituency besides a medical college in each district.