Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday accused Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of taking the politics at a lowest ebb following alleged involvement of its MlAs and party workers in scandals.
He said that he, for the first time, has seen such “indecent and undemocratic” acts by the leaders of any political party during his political career.
Kejriwal should apologise to them for the indecent behaviour of his party colleagues towards women, Badal told the reporters on the sidelines of the swearing-in-ceremony of the newly-appointed Information Commissioners and members of Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).
“It is very unfortunate and painful that AAP volunteers are indulging in hooliganism, throwing all the norms of political expediency to the wind,” he said.
Asked to comment on Kejriwal’s plan to purchase a house in Punjab, Badal took a jibe at his Delhi counterpart saying, “It is immaterial whether he settles here or at Delhi. But one thing I must say, that first of all he should put his own house (AAP) in order and teach the basic lesson of morality and its relevance in value based politics to the entire rank and file of his party.”
Attacking Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh for staging dharna in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office in Bathinda on farmers’ issues, Badal said that he was fond of playing to the gallery and now he was indulging in these gimmicks just to woo the farmers.
He said that Capt Amarinder should go soul searching to find what he had done for the welfare of farmers during his regime from 2002 to 2007 as Chief Minister.
“Amarinder took the lead to discontinue free power to the farmers and other anti-farmer decisions...just to satisfy his ego,” Badal said, adding that on the other hand, SAD-BJP government, during its near a decade long regime (2007-2016), had taken several decisions for the well-being of peasants.
The decisions included paying near Rs 5,000 crore annually as subsidy to Punjab State Power Corporation limited (PSPCl) on account of free power to the farm sector and initiating a scheme to provide interest free loans up to Rs 50,000.
later in the day on the sidelines of a function in Mohali, Chief Minister said that AAP was a party of scandals and its leadership was issuing these statements just to hide their failures.
“The internal tug of war in the AAP is just the reflection of fact that the party would be torn into pieces very soon,” he said.
Badal also reminded Kejriwal that jails were not a new place for him because he had spent around two decades of his life in jail for safeguarding the interests of the state and its people.