Mansa- Former union minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said chief minister Bhagwant Mann was working on the directions of union home minister Amit Shah and was now readying to betray Punjab by preparing a report to show the State had excess water to facilitate release of the same to Haryana.
The Bathinda MP, who addressed well attended public meetings in this assembly constituency, said “Bhagwant Mann has fallen at the feet of the union home minister after he realized that he could also be arrested on the same pattern as Arvind Kejriwal. Like in the case of the Delhi government, the Punjab government also implemented a similar excise policy in which benefits were given to the same liquor companies who were the beneficiaries in Delhi. This is why the union home minister has taken over control of Bhagwant Mann and is now dictating the latter to prepare a survey showing that Punjab has excess water so that the same can be released to Haryana”.
Asserting that the SAD would never let this conspiracy succeed, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said “we are committed to safeguarding the interests of Punjabis. I also appeal to you to choose your representatives very carefully in the forthcoming parliamentary election. You should only send those persons to parliament who can voice your demands effectively”.
The Bathinda MP also highlighted how chief minister Bhagwant Mann had bankrupted the State. “The AAP government has borrowed an unprecedented Rs 1 lakh crore in two years alone and taken the State debt to Rs 3.75 lakh crore”. She said the government had nothing to show for taking on such a huge debt. Money from the State treasury has been wasted on advertisements, publicity stunts and election campaigns of Kejriwal in other States”.
Interacting with women during her campaign, Mrs Badal said it was shocking that chemical drugs had entered each and every village. “Had you ever heard of ‘chitta’ earlier?” she asked adding “now such dangerous drugs are being delivered at door steps. She said all this was happening because AAP legislators were patronizing the drug mafia and preventing the police from proceeding against it.
Mrs Badal also warned the people to beware of the AAP- Congress alliance. She said the Congress party, which had ruined Punjab during its 2017-2022 tenure, had now teamed up with AAP to befool Punjabis jointly. She appealed to people to snub both parties, saying “both these parties have done nothing for farmers, youth or trade and industry”. She said the Congress went back on its promise to waive off all agricultural loans even as the AAP government was yet to release Rs 1, 000 per month to women as promised by it.
Speaking about the erstwhile SAD government, Mrs Badal said “we gave three lakh jobs to the youth. We recruited as many as 70, 000 teachers. All this recruitment was done transparently on merit. She said in comparison with the AAP government, which had recruited a few thousand persons during the last two years there were widespread reports of irregularities as well as disbursal of jobs to outsiders at the instance of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.