Addressing election rallies at Sirsa and Barwala in Hisar district, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday made an attack at the Centre government, raising question if the BJP-led government will not allow the protesting farmers camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders to enter Delhi, should he send them to Lahore? Maan said, farmers from Punjab led by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha began the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on February 13 to press the government to accept their demands which include that the Centre should give a legal guarantee for minimum support price for their crops, but they were stopped by the Haryana Police, which had set up barricades, including cemented blocks and iron nails on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway. The farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border since the past over five months leaving their families in a hope to discuss matters amicably with the government in centre. Maan said that the border has been closed with iron nails and barricading so that farmers cannot enter Delhi and sort out issues since the government runs from Delhi, and if they will not be allowed to enter Delhi, should they move to Lahore?” Mann said while addressing rallies in Hisar’s Barwala and the other in Sirsa’s Dabwali. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced to contest on all the 90 seats in Haryana.
Punjab CM said even four years ago, the farmers were stopped from entering Delhi, when as many as 726 farmers died during the farmers’ protest against the farm laws. In his address, Maan alleged that people of Haryana have given chance to different political parties but they all robbed the state. Maan said if a doctor is not able to cure ailments of patients the doctor should be changed similar to Delhi and Punjab voters, people of Haryana should also vote for a change this time. The AAP leader briefed several initiatives of the AAP governments in Punjab and Delhi, saying in Punjab 43,000 government jobs have been given purely on the basis of merit, whereas there have been number paper leak incidents in Haryana in past some time but in Punjab people have not heard such things. Touching the sentiments, Punjab CM said that Punjab and Haryana are brothers, though we may have become separate states but our hearts are one.
Maan said, we are giving 600 units of free electricity to everyone per billing cycle of two months in Punjab, the AAP government in Delhi has reformed the government schools providing better infrastructure than top level private schools, the children of poor families are cracking top competitive exams in Delhi now, the health services have witnessed much improvements at present and we have taken the government to people’s doorsteps to facilitate them and make their lives better. Maan urged the people of Haryana not to be carried away by the fake promises being made by the BJP and the Congress, since they (BJP and Congress) used to rule by turns and people had no other option, but now they have an alternative in the AAP government. Raising a question Maan asked that BJP has been in power for 10 years, did they solve the problem of employment to youths jobs or undertaken development except fake announcements. “I am told if it rains for one minute in Barwala, people have to take out boats. Such is the situation,” he said. Making an attack on the BJP government at the Centre, Maan said during the Lok Sabha polls, the saffron party talked of “400 paar” but now they are running their government with the support of allies.
Bhagwant Maan said, Arvind Kejriwal belongs to Haryana and he changed the direction of the country’s politics, whereas the BJP will change the Constitution if they get an overwhelming majority. Taking a dig at the BJP Maan said, beware of the BJP’s ‘lollipops’, as they gave ‘lollipops’ during the Lok Sabha elections also, when they claimed to have reduced cooking gas cylinder price after hiking it manifold. Further taking a dig at the BJP, Maan said, “They claim to keep about double-engine (government), but changed one engine midway replacing Manohar Lal Khattar and brought another engine. Was the engine defective or what happened, they brought another engine.” Maan told the people of Haryana that the country or the state does not need a double engine but it needs a new engine and only a single engine is sufficient to run the government smoothly.
