Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday hit out at Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, asking him to stop “boasting about fake achievements” of the previous Akali government and instead answer for the 2015 sacrilege incidents and the drug menace that claimed the lives of many youths.
Mann, while addressing a gathering after launching developmental projects in the Chamkaur Sahib Assembly segment, said: “Sukhbir is very fond of boasting that a lot of development had taken place during their rule whereas he is mum over the incidents of Bargari (sacrilege) and bullets fired on innocent people or the drug menace.”
He alleged the Akali regime from 2007–2017 was the “darkest period” for Punjab, when mafias controlling transport, sand, cable, and drugs thrived. “The drug menace spread its tentacles after it was patronised during the Akali regime,” Mann said, adding that those behind the “genocide” of youth through drugs would face strict punishment.
The CM also targeted successive governments, saying traditional parties “mercilessly plundered” Punjab. “All the big guns of these parties like former chief ministers Parkash Singh Badal and Charanjit Singh Channi, and Akali leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal, Bikram Majithia and others were shown the door,” he said.
Mann listed his government’s initiatives, including 55,000 transparent job recruitments, upgrading the Chamkaur Sahib hospital, and opening five Aam Aadmi clinics. He also flagged off a mobile STEM bus for school students and distributed sports kits to young players.