Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday said that BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had no magic wand to uplift sinking fortunes of Akali-BJP candidates in Punjab.
Bajwa also challenged his opponent from the BJP Vinod Khanna on performance index in the lok Sabha.“The anti-incumbency against State Government in general and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, and the Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia in particular, is so strong that Modi would miserably fail to reverse the situation and this alliance would be wiped out from the State,” said Bajwa, who is seeking his reelection from Gurdaspur.
He said that desperate alliance was counting on Modi but this State was different from the rest of the country due to its political dynamics. “This Government’s only claim to fame is that this once the most prosperous State had been turned into a State of addicts and the people had openly started demanding from the rulers, including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, that licenced vends should be opened here on Rajasthan pattern for selling poppy husk (bhukki),” said Bajwa. Alleging that narcotics smuggling was being controlled by ruling party’s mafia, he said that Akali Dal candidates had now become so demoralised from prospect of defeat that they had also started supporting this demand like Akali candidate from Faridkot Paramjit Kaur Gulshan.
Joining issues with Khanna, he said that Mumbai Ka Babu should have thought twice before questioning his performance. “His attendance was 82 per cent as against Khanna’s 42 per cent in his previous tenure. Similarly, I put 359 questions during the period under comparison as against just four in five years by Khanna. This is part of the record of the lok Sabha,” said Bajwa, quoting statistics.