Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Saturday claimed that was a fight between the Congress on the one hand and the most corrupt politician in India, Sukhbir Badal, and the biggest of all liars Arvind Kejriwal, on the other.
Confident of a Congress sweep in the Assembly polls, the chief ministerial candidate of the party negated any threat from either the AAP or the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), saying he did not see them securing more than 25 and 12 seats respectively in these Assembly polls.
Addressing rallies in Nihal Singh Wala and Mehal Kalan, he claimed the Congress would win hands down.
He came down heavily on Parkash Singh Badal for the growing religious intolerance and incidents of sacrilege in the State, promising to put him behind bars after getting all cases of desecration reinvestigated. Referring to the CIA report linking Badal with Sikh extremists, Captain Amarinder said the Akali elder was in the habit of exploiting people as well as religion to further his own interests.
Captain Amarinder promised to free the SGPC, formed after a long struggle by the Sikh community, from the shackles of the Badals, who had transformed it into their personal fiefdom for political exploitation. He reiterated his support for anyone standing up against the Badals in the SGPC.
Addressing public rallies in support of Congress candidates Rajwinder Kaur Bhagike and Harchand Kaur in their respective constituencies of Nihal Singh Wala and Mehal Kalan, Captain Amarinder said AAP, with its Haryanvi leader and outsider base, could not prove stable governance to Punjab, which could not afford to experiment with a new dispensation in the midst of the crisis it is currently facing.
He pointed to reports of a large number of outsiders being brought in by AAP from other states for its roadshow in Patiala to warn the people against being taken in by Kejriwal’s false promises.
He lashed out at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for allowing ministers like Majithia and Tota Singh to destroy the lives of people and implicate innocents in false cases. Badal, he said, was responsible for all the mess in the state, including dugs and chitta, as well as the suicides of farmers and the collapse of industry, as a result of his failure to take action against his guilty ministers.
Expressing concern at the suicides by farmers and the deteriorating agriculture scenario in the state, which produces the bulk of wheat and rice despite having a miniscule share of land, Captain Amarinder reiterated his promise to waive off all farmer debts, which his government would take over once the Congress comes to power.
He promised a spate of measures, including introduction of new crops, to make agriculture profitable for the small farmers.
Pointing out that all the development projects started by the previous Congress Government had been suspended by the Akalis, Captain Amarinder castigated the Badals for plunging the state into an economic crisis, marred by a severe budget deficit and marked by mortgage of the State’s assets.