Asserting that ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance in Punjab was confronted with a "tsunami of anti-incumbency", Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the party will replicate the Delhi anti-corruption model if AAP is voted to power in the State.
Kick-starting his five-day visit to Punjab, where Assembly elections is due early 2017, Kejriwal claimed that the party would form its government in Punjab as the present dispensation is "confronted with a tsunami of anti-incumbency."
"Corruption would be eradicated in Punjab after we come to power. The Delhi experience would be replicated in Punjab where 52 officials have been nabbed," he said.
Terming as "cruel joke" the "meagre compensation" paid by the state government to farmers for the damaged crop, Kejriwal promised adequate compensation to them if AAP comes to power.
"We have done it in Delhi where compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare was given for farmers in 307 villages for their damaged crops, which was never done by any previous government," Kejriwal said while addressing different gatherings. Kejriwal met wives of farmers, who recently committed suicide due to heavy debt.
"I think the compensation of Rs three lakh announced by the State Government for families of farmers, who committed suicide, was also embezzled by corrupt officials and politicians as on the ground, no such compensation was given to any family," he said in Sunam.
Kejriwal promised that if voted to power in the state, the AAP government would provide necessary health and education facilities.
The Delhi CM started his five-day visit to Punjab on Thursday to boost the political prospects of the Aam Aadmi Party. He arrived in Chandigarh on a regular flight from Delhi and drove immediately to Sangrur town in Punjab. He was received by top AAP leaders of the Punjab unit and some party leaders from Delhi.
"I am starting my five-day trip of Punjab today. I will be visiting villages and meeting with common people," Kejriwal told the media after landing in Chandigarh.
"We will meet families affected by the drugs problem. We will try to understand their problems. We will meet families of farmers who committed suicide and understand their problems too. The AAP philosophy is that we meet people, listen to their problems and find solutions," he said.
"Other parties make their manifestoes in air-conditioned rooms. We go to villages and homes of people," Kejriwal said while taking a dig at other political parties.
Kejriwal will travel to Punjab's three regions - Malwa, Majha and Doaba, during the visit, starting from Sangrur and Bathinda districts in the agriculturally-fertile south-west Punjab.
Kejriwal will visit Ferozepur and Faridkot districts on February 26, Khadoor Sahib, Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts on February 27, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar districts on February 28 and finally go to ludhiana, Fategarh Sahib and Patiala districts on February 29.
"He will interact with various sections of the society comprising families of distressed farmers who have been committing suicides, members of Dalit families and unemployed educated youth and know the concerns of the women folk about their safety and security," an AAP spokesman said.
He will meet the business community, comprising traders and captains of industry, to know the problems faced by them in the state.
The Congress in Punjab had earlier said that it will oppose Kejriwal's visit if the Aam Aadmi Party does not change its agenda for the State.
"Kejriwal should not play with fire by instigating the sentiments of the people of Punjab. This is a very dangerous style of politics being done by the AAP," Congress leader and ludhiana MP Ravnit Singh Bittu had said.
The AAP is posing a serious political challenge to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance and the Congress, which have dominated Punjab's political space for decades, in the run up to next year's assembly polls.