Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday asked the people to dislodge the ruling UPA at the Centre and vote the BJP-led NDA to power for development and to help "uproot" corruption.
“The UPA Government has miserably failed on all fronts during its decade long tenure dominated by corruption and maladministration,” Badal said while addressing a function after launching the Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme.
He accused the Congress of following a policy of ‘divide and rule’ saying that the party has created differences among people on the lines of caste, religion, creed, communities, language and even region for its political benefits. The Centre's support is important for the development of any state, Badal said, adding that for Punjab's progress it is vital that people vote for NDA as Congress-led UPA government had ignored the state.
The UPA government has always meted out a step-motherly treatment to Punjab by depriving hard working farmers of their rightful demand in terms of remunerative MSP and cheap agriculture inputs like diesel, seeds and pesticides.
“We are neither consulted for fixation of MSP nor for determining the rates of agriculture inputs,” Badal said.
He lauded the role of leader of Opposition in Assembly Sunil Jakhar and former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar for their efforts in helping develop the state, saying “they are unlike their party colleagues including Congress state chief Partap Singh Bajwa and Amarinder Singh who believe in politics of vendetta”.
Blaming the Centre for the tardy progress of paddy procurement in the state, Badal said that the poor farmers were being harassed due to the Centre's stringent parameters of moisture and discoloration.
1.52 lakh cycles distributed under Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme
“Mai Bhago Vidya Scheme of the alliance government will motivate the girl students of class XI and XII to get school education in hassle free manner especially in the far flung difficult areas besides arresting the trend of school drop outs amongst the girl students,” he said. Under the scheme, 1.52 lakh cycles would be given to the girl students at a cost of Rs 40 crore, Badal said.
‘Congress leaders least bothered for people’s welfare’
Training his guns at state Congress leaders, Deputy Chief Minister and SAD president Sukhbir Badal said that the biggest difference between the Congress and Akali leadership was that while they were hardly concerned about problems faced by the people, the Akali-BJP leaders were committed for the welfare of the poor.
“Ever since assuming the power in 2007, SAD-BJP government has been relentlessly working for people’s well being by taking path breaking initiatives.
listing the achievements of the state government, Sukhbir said that due to the stupendous efforts of the state government, Punjab would soon become a power surplus state by the end of this year.
Punjab earned status of welfare state due to its pro-poor initiatives: Majithia
The state Information and Public Relations Minister Bikram Singh Majithia said that by implementing pro-poor policies, the SAD-BJP government has earned a status of ‘welfare state’ for Punjab.
“Baffled over the state’s progress, the Congress leaders are issuing irrational statements to oppose pro-poor initiatives of the state government,” he said.
Terming Punjab as the most peaceful state in the country, Majithia said that even the Prime Minister has admitted that communal harmony, peace and brotherhood prevail in the country for which the credit goes to SAD-BJP alliance government.