Punjab Congress on Wednesday accused the SAD-BJP led state government of splurging public money and misusing official machinery on its December 8 rally to coincide with the “birthday bash” of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
The party said that the Government was spending crores of rupees on the proposed rally while beneficiaries of its much-touted ‘Atta-Dal scheme’ were still waiting for their quota of rations for the last eight months.
Quoting media reports, the Congress leaders Dr Malti Thapar, Col Babbu Singh and Dr Tara Singh Sandhu, in a joint statement, pointed that over one crore intended beneficiaries of the scheme will not get their eight-month quota of subsidised pulses as the Badal Government had failed to provide funds.
“While the common people, already reeling under a mega cash crisis after demonetisation, continue to wait endlessly for basic essentials such as dal (pulses) and atta (flour), the Akali Government has opened its coffers for Parkash Singh Badal's birthday celebrations on December 8,” the Congress leaders said.
Congress leaders lamented the “shocking” manner in which State’s entire official machinery has been leveraged to make Moga rally, which the Government is trying hard to camouflage as an anti-SYl battle, a success.