The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to question Capt Amarinder Singh government and raise four main issues of MSP, post-matric scholarship, farm loan waiver and electricity in the upcoming budget session. The decision was taken during an all-MLA meeting presided over by senior leader of the party and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema at the party headquarters on Saturday.
Addressing the media after the party meeting, Cheema said that Capt Amarinder Singh had failed to fulfil all the promises that he made back in 2017. "It has been 4 years since then and we have reached the final budget session and none of those promises have yet been fulfilled," he added.
Cheema said that as the principal opposition party in the assembly, AAP will take up all these issues in the budget session to show the people of Punjab, the failures of the Captain government. Taking a dig, Cheema further said that Capt Amarinder along with SAD helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi pass the black farm laws. "Once, it was passed Captain occupied himself in theatrics and tried to fool the people of Punjab into believing that he was pro-farmer when in reality all he tried to do was to derail the farmer protests," added Cheema. He further said that instead of fighting the black farm laws seriously, Captain passed a weak resolution in the assembly against the farm laws which he did not send to the parliament in time.
He said that later, Captain passed amendment acts in the Assembly which had no legal standing to counter the laws. "Nor did Captain meet the PM and oppose these laws, but he also failed to give the farmers MSP, which was their initial right. Instead of fighting for their rights, Captain is going around telling farmers to accept the proposals given by the central govt," said Cheema. Hence, in the upcoming budget session, the AAP would raise the issue of MSP, he added. Further slamming Captain Amarinder and his minister for looting the Dalit students of Punjab, Cheema said that minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot gobbled up the money meant for the education of poor Dalit students and Captain Amarinder had still not taken any action against him. "Captain released a new post-matric scholarship scheme in the state and provided no benefits to the students. He also formed a committee chaired by Manpreet Badal to look into how the colleges can be paid their dues so that the degrees of the students are released, but even that committee has done nothing," said Cheema. He said that Captain Amarinder had failed to provide education to the Dalit students and now the colleges and the students were suffering. Cheema said that more than 1,600 colleges were on the verge of being shut and more than 50,000 students had not got their degrees. He said the AAP will also raise the issue of post-matric scholarship in the upcoming budget session.
Talking about the recent suicides of farmers in Dasuya and Tarn Taran because of indebtedness, Cheema said that more than 65 farmers had killed themselves because of the heavy loans which they were unable to pay. "Captain Amarinder had promised that he would waive off all the loans of the farmers, however, the farmers kept on waiting. When nothing changed, they took the desperate path of suicide," he said. Cheema said that the party MLAs met these families and shared their pain. He said that the families were devastated with the loss and they were even more devastated with the betrayal they got from Captain Amarinder Singh.
"Hence, in the upcoming budget session, the issue of farm loan waiver would be picked," he added.
Cheema said that the AAP will also raise the issue of electricity in the assembly. He said that the agreements made by the preceding government had made the price of electricity very expensive for the people of Punjab. Cheema said that the businesses were suffering because of the exorbitant rates they had to pay for electricity. "Even the farmers of Punjab are suffering. Captain Amarinder promised in 2017 that he would review these agreements and change them, but still no review of these agreements have been made," he added. He said that Captain Amarinder has failed on all fronts and the AAP will leave no opportunity to point these failures out to the people.
