Alleging misuse of official machinery by the ruling Akalis, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday demanded immediate imposition of the Model Code of Conduct and early elections, preferably under the President's Rule, in Punjab.
lambasting the Badal government for allegedly misusing public funds and official machinery to put up large hoardings carrying an old Congress advertisement released at the time of the Satluj-Yamuna link (SYl) canal foundation laying ceremony in early 1980s, Capt Amarinder again demanded immediate imposition of the model code of conduct and early elections in the state.
He also demanded holding the Assembly elections in the State under the President's Rule.
Accusing the Akalis of unleashing false propaganda over the SYl issue, he warned that they would get caught in their own web of deceit. “The people of Punjab are tired of your lies and deceptive statements and claims, and are not ready to believe a word of it,” he said.
lashing out at the Badals for spending the precious resources of the state on “fraudulent and misleading campaigns”, Capt Amarinder said: “The hoardings, that had been put up across Mohali, are clearly in violation of the MC rules as well as
the Punjab and Haryana High Court
directions against putting up hoardings at
traffic lights.”
Demanding immediate and stringent action by the Election Commission, Capt Amarinder said that the hoardings “reflected the twisted mindset of the Badals, who were ready to stoop to any level to divert public attention from their own misdeeds by resorting to all kinds of frauds and falsehoods”.
Capt Amarinder accused the Badals of spreading one lie after another to mislead the people of Punjab on the SYl issue, “in which they themselves were the biggest culprits, having shamelessly and brazenly sold off the interests of the state to neighbouring Haryana”.
“There is enough documentary evidence on record to show that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had been instrumental in acquiring land for SYl construction in Punjab through a notification dated February 20, 1978,” he claimed.