Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday urged the Election Commission of India to check “proliferation” of firearms in the State, ahead of State Assembly polls, scheduled early next year.
Capt Amarinder said that the situation in the State had deteriorated to unprecedented levels and urged the ECI to intervene to prevent the crisis from escalating.
He appealed to the ECI to ensure that its directives on firearms were stringently implemented, while once again calling for immediate imposition of the code of conduct to maintain law and order in the State.
Alleging Punjab police had “failed” to ensure surrender of all firearms as per the ECI directives, Capt Amarinder termed it a “deliberate ploy”, instigated by the Badal Government, to allow armed goons to “terrorise” the people in the run-up to the
polls to “pressurise them to vote for the Akali Dal”.
He alleged total lack of law and order in the State under the Badal regime, which had given a “free run” to armed gangs, criminals and mafias to unleash their terror on the people of Punjab.
“Even the State DGP was on record said that as many as 52 armed gangs were active in Punjab,” Amarinder claimed.
About Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) eyeing Punjab after Delhi, he dismissed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s party as an outfit of “corrupt and greedy” individuals who were busy selling tickets, with several party leaders even caught in sex and drugs scandals.
“AAP stands completely exposed in the wake of allegations of bribery, drugs and sex scandals against various AAP leaders by their own party members and workers,” he said while categorically ruling out the possibility of AAP realising its dream of ruling Punjab, stating that the party had absolutely no base in the State.
The former chief minister said that AAP had failed to meet the expectations of the people of Delhi, which had a large Punjabi population. “AAP has absolutely no connect with Punjabis and do not understand their aspirations,” he added.
He said that there was a distinct wave in favour of Congress, with both SAD and AAP having failed the people of the state as a result of their corrupt policies and anti-people agenda.
“Once the ticket allocation process is complete in all the major parties and the candidates take to electioneering, the people’s mood in favour of the Congress would become even more palpable,” he said.
He once again made it clear that there was no question of compromising on the Sutlej-Yamuna link (SYl) canal issue even if it meant losing out on former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s support in the Assembly election campaign in Punjab.