Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh hit out at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal for “exploiting” the ongoing farmers’ agitation to further his party’s petty electoral agenda in Punjab with “blatant lies and brazenly false propaganda”.
“In sharp contrast to the Kejriwal Government in Delhi, which has been thriving on Ambani crumbs and has been touting its power reforms under the Reliance-run BSES as its biggest achievement, the Punjab Government has neither signed any agreement with Adani Power nor is even aware of the private players bidding for power purchase in the state,” said the Chief Minister, in a hard-hitting reaction to the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) claims.
It was, in fact, the Kejriwal Government that was shamelessly notifying one of the black farm laws on November 23, at a time when farmers were preparing to march to Delhi to protest these very farm laws, said Capt Amarinder, adding, “And now they’re indulging in theatrics by announcing that they would be sitting on fast in support of the farmers’ hunger strike on Monday”.
“Do you have no shame? At a time when our farmers are braving the winter cold on the roads outside your city, and many of them are dying fighting for their rights, all you can think of is how to make the most of the opportunity to promote your political interests,” the Chief Minister quipped, castigating his Delhi counterpart for misleading the farmers.
“Instead of doing anything constructive to help the protesting farmers, who are sitting outside his city for the past 17 days to seek justice, you and your party are busy playing politics,” Capt Amarinder added.
Training his gun at AAP’s Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann for speaking without verifying facts of the power purchase situation in Punjab, the Chief Minister said that he was “just a comedian who nobody ever took seriously”.
Pointing out that Punjab had been purchasing additional power to support farmers during the sowing season for years, the Chief Minister said that it was obvious that Kejriwal and his party neither knew nor cared about what goes into sowing or what the needs of the farmers are. “All they are concerned about is taking advantage of the plight of the farmers for their vested political interests,” he added.
“From backstabbing the farmers by implementing one of the black farm laws, to trying to dump them in a corner of Delhi, Kejriwal has proved time and again that he is no friend of the farmers,” said Capt Amarinder.
At the same time, he warned the Delhi Chief Minister that his latest attempt to drive a wedge between the Punjab Government and the farmers would not succeed with the petty and pathetic tactics adopted by AAP to spread misinformation in the state.
“Not only has the Punjab Government supported the farmers through the past three months of their agitation, it has even passed amendment Bills in the Vidhan Sabha to nullify the farm laws,” he pointed out, challenging Kejriwal to cite even one example of any welfare measure taken by his government for the farmers.
Punjab Chief Minister said that having failed to garner the farmers’ support despite his theatrics in Delhi and “patently false claims of house arrest, among other lies”, Kejriwal had now turned attention to Punjab with an eye on the 2022 Assembly elections, which AAP had no hopes of winning.