In the absence of Capt Amarinder Singh from his bastion, his staunch loyalist and former Patiala mayor Vishnu Sharma joined the Shiromani Akali Dal along with his supporters on Wednesday.
Giving a big blow to the Congress’ campaign in Patiala lok Sabha constituency from where Capt Amarinder’s wife Preneet Kaur is seeking re-election, Vishnu Sharma said that Congress-led UPA has gifted corruption, escalation of prices of essential commodities besides misrule to the people of the country during last ten years.
“On the other hand, the SAD-BJP Government led by Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal has carried out unprecedented development besides providing society securities scheme for the different sections of the society,” he added.
Besides Sharma, former Municipal Councillors Gurdev Singh Punia, Baljit Kaur Punia, Monika Grover, Sharda Devi, Pawan Nagrath, along with Youth Congress rural president Vinod Arora Kalu, district general secretary Dalbir Singh, vice president Bhushan Sharma, general secretary Rajan Puri, Narinder Dhiman, Dr Rakesh Arya and others joined SAD “unconditionally”.
Sharma alleged that Congress party has deliberately ignored Hindu community all along. “Though the matter was brought to the notice of AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad and other senior leaders, no one took interest in the problem. While, SAD has given tickets to 12 members of Hindu community out of which 11 emerged victorious and became MlAs,” he added.
Welcoming the leaders in party fold, SAD president Sukhbir Badal said that party’s pro-people policies was encouraging people to join SAD who would get the due honors. He rejected the idea that the workers and leaders of the SAD were felt disappointed on the incoming of these leaders.
He added that SAD-BJP combine candidate from Patiala Deepinder Singh Dhillon will win the seat with more a margin of more than one lakh votes, adding that husband of the Congress candidate, Capt Amarinder, has a special desire to see her defeated.
Govt fails on main indicators: Bajwa
Pathankot: Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday said that myth of so-called development in Punjab under Akali Dal-BJP Government stood shattered by social indices which are barometer of progress made by a State.
Bajwa questioned his opponent from Akali Dal-supported BJP candidate Vinod Khanna, who earlier represented this constituency for three consecutive terms, saying that he must explain poor performance of his Government on such issues like school dropout rate, closure of industries and unemployment, especially with reference to Gurdaspur district.
“As per information obtained under RTI Act, number of unemployed on live register of Gurdaspur employment exchange was 8425 in 2005 which rose to 8741 the next year. The figure in 2012 was 5789,” he pointed.
Similarly, only 36 persons got employment in 2004 as per record of Gurdaspur employment exchange. “This figure was a dismal 26 for 2012 and 29 for 2013. It was only in 2011 that 151 unemployed persons on the live register of employment exchange were provided jobs. Situation was just the worst. The incidence of unemployment was many times more than what was on the record of the employment exchanges in the state,” he added.
He said Khanna should explain as to why such a large number of industrial units were shutting down in the state adding to the army of unemployed.“In Batala alone, once a flourishing industrial town, a total of 1864 units had closed down since 2007. The situation was alarming as the figure for the entire state crossed 18,000 units,” he added.
He said after having been defeated in the 2009 lok Sabha elections, Khanna never cared to remain connected to the people whom he had represented and got even one project sanctioned despite the fact that the Akali Dal-BJP government had been in the state since 2007.
Inflammatory speeches to lead BJP to woods Sangrur: Congress MP and candidate from Sangrur constituency Vijay Inder Singla on Wednesday said that inflammatory speeches made by BJP cadres or their allies and arrogance reflect the party’s true character and will lead BJP to the woods.
He said that basic philosophies of the two parties are in contrast to each other on many issues like inter linking of rivers and Punjab has only witnessed a downslide during rule of this unholy alliance in the State in the last seven years and it is time for the people to vote them out.
“Intention and perception is what matters and on both these accounts the Akali-BJP government has failed to protect the rights of people with their mafia style of governance,” he added.Singla stated that a dedicated Fund needs to be set up to up-scale drug awareness campaigns and drug de-addiction activities on the ‘demand’ side and a new institutional system should be developed which will function directly under the Prime Minister to tackle the ‘supply’ side of drug trafficking.