Squarely blaming successive Congress Governments at the Centre for ‘financial crunch’ in the State, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday said that the step-motherly treatment by the Congress coupled with its regressive policies have broken the backbone of Punjab’s economy.
Badal, interacting with media persons on the sidelines of political conference to mark the Gurta Gaddi diwas of Sri Guru Angad Dev, said that the Congress has always adopted anti-Punjab stance against the State due to which the State’s development has suffered a lot.Terming the formation of Modi Government at the Centre as a ‘silver lining’ for the State, Badal said that days of discrimination with Punjab were over and now an era of unprecedented development would be heralded in the State.
He expressed hope that the the NDA Government would soon allot some key projects, which would give impetus to the overall development of the State.
Maintaining that letters written by the Union Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has been misinterpreted by the media, Badal said that reality was that the Union Minister had just referred the issue of debt waiver of State and revision of formula for Army recruitment to the concerned quarters.
Showering heaps of praises on Jaitley, he said that due to his personal efforts, the holy city of Amritsar got several key projects.
Taking a jibe at former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for his regular absence from Amritsar, Badal said that though Jaitley was doing so much for the holy city despite his defeat, “on the other hand, lok Sabha MP elected by people is never seen anywhere”.On BJP’s dismal performance in recently concluded by-elections, the Chief Minister said that it was wrong to construe it as a referendum against the Modi Government. “These elections are fought on local issues and hardly have any connection with the Modi wave,” he said.
Earlier, addressing the gathering, Badal slammed the Congress party for “irrelevantly meddling in Sikhs’ religious affairs”.“The sinister moves of Congress Government in Haryana and Maharashtra to constitute separate Gurdawara Management Committee and reducing SGPC’s representation in Hazoor Sahib Board respectively has given a severe blow to Sikh psyche,” he said.