Describing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and state Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh as “chronic non-performers”, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday said that both of them were trying to “outdo each other in building castles in the air”.
Badal, on the sidelines of his Sangat Darshan programme in Garhshankar Assembly segment said that both Capt Amarinder and Kejriwal have failed to discharge their public duties whenever they were given a chance.
He claimed that Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi was “a total failure” as it had not fulfilled “even a single promise” made to the people before the elections.
likewise, he said that Capt Amarinder's tenure as Punjab Chief Minister was best remembered for his “inaccessibility” to the people. “In the false hope of assuming power in the state after the 2017 Assembly polls, the Amarinder-Kejriwal duo is putting in every effort to mislead the voters,” he said.
Badal took another jibe at his political rivals saying that both Capt Amarinder and Kejriwal had failed to ensure the well-being of the people but were still showing “green pastures” to them for their votes.
“People of Punjab are very wise. I will only request them to first check the antecedents of any political leader seeking their votes,” said Badal.
He accused the Congress of “ruining Punjab” by “irrelevantly meddling in its social, political, economic and even religious affairs”, claiming that successive governments led by the party at the Centre had meted out “step-motherly treatment” to the state which dealt a severe blow to its economy. However, he said that with the NDA forming the government at the Centre, things were now moving in the right direction.
Badal also accused the AAP of “harbouring the same anti-Punjab feelings” as that of the Congress, claiming that the affidavit filed by the Kejriwal government in the Supreme Court on the Sutlej Yamuna link (SYl) canal issue had exposed its anti-Punjab mindset.
“These people simply want to plunder Punjab's wealth while the SAD-BJP alliance is committed to the state's development and the prosperity of its people,” he said.
listing out the major pro-people initiatives of his government, the Chief Minister said that due to its concerted efforts, Punjab was the only power surplus state in the country today and the only one to provide free electricity worth `5,000 crore annually to its farmers.