Kejriwal accuses Badals, Captain of ‘looting’ Punjab
12 Sep 2016 9:37 PM GMT
“What have the Akalis and the Congress given to the people of Punjab? They have only looted the state for their vested interests. People should disassociate themselves with these parties. Otherwise, their children will never forgive them,” he said here after releasing his party’s ‘Kisan Manifesto’.
Asserting that Punjab will “change” after the 2017 Assembly polls, Kejriwal, on the last day of his four-day tour of the state, told a rally that the future of Punjab was bright and it would show the direction to the entire world. He said the farmers of the state were once prosperous and accused the Badals and Amarinder of “grabbing” their land and “forcing” them to commit suicide in the last 15 years.
“We (AAP) will not let them (the Badals and Amarinder) go scot free. I have pitched my tent in Punjab now and I will leave the state only after sending the Badals to jail,” said Kejriwal. He also lashed out at state ministers Tota Singh, Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, Bikram Singh Majithia and Sukhbir Singh Badal. “After we form the government in Punjab, we will get cases lodged against them and send them to jail,” he said.
The AAP supremo accused Tota Singh of “selling spurious pesticides” which forced cotton farmers to commit suicide, Kairon of “looting” foodgrains worth Rs 12,000 crore, Majithia of “being in the drugs business” and Sukhbir of “knowing it all”, adding that AAP will confiscate the land of these ministers and build schools and hospitals on them.
“Three months back, I had announced that Majithia was in the drugs trade. He got a false case registered against me, thinking that he will be able to suppress me. But, I am not afraid of him,” said Kejriwal.
“There are only four months left for the polls. I warn Majithia that either he gets me arrested or after the polls, I will get him arrested and send him to jail,” he said.Kejriwal alleged that whenever he said anything against the Badals, Amarinder threatened to throw him out of Punjab. “I wonder why can’t he (Amarinder) face the truth about the Badals?” he asked, adding that the state Congress chief behaved like “an advocate of the ruling family of Punjab”.
Sidhu’s outfit ‘BJP-sponsored programme’: Congress
In political doghouse in Punjab for nearly a decade, Congress on Sunday said it suspected the new outfit floated by cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu was a “BJP-sponsored programme” to divide anti-incumbency votes.
The party also came down hard on Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP, dubbing it as “a bunch of opportunists” whose real face is getting exposed in the wake of sex scandals and serious charges of financial irregularities against their leaders. “It looks like a BJP-sponsored programme. We have to wait and see how many BJP people board Sidhu’s bandwagon,” AICC Secretary Asha Kumari, who is incharge of party’s affairs in Punjab told a news agency.
She suspected the new front could have been floated to divide AAP votes in order to help the Akali Dal.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh said, “Their status looks like that of a confused and undecided couple which is not sure whether it should marry or just carry on with the relationship to keep all the future options open”.
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