Jalandhar:  Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was discriminating against the Dalits and weaker sections of society by withdrawing facilities given to them by erstwhile SAD governments and vowed to restore all facilities withdrawn by successive Congress and AAP governments back to them once the party formed a government in the State.
The SAD president, who addressed massive public meetings in favour of party candidate Mohinder Singh Kaypee at Shahkot, Nakodar, Phillaur and Phagwara, said “this anti-Punjab government, which is run from Delhi, is denying the SC scholarship to students and free cycles to girl students. It is not giving the Shagun benefit to brides from SC and underprivileged sections of society. It has stopped the Bhagat Puran Singh medical insurance scheme. It has closed down chemist shops and even Sewa Kendras”.
Asserting that successive Congress and AAP governments had taken Punjab back by a decade, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “support the SAD to ensure all social welfare benefits are restored. Support the SAD to force this anti-Punjab government to pay Rs 1, 000 per month to all women. Support the SAD to save Punjab and ensure its River water rights and its claim to its capital city of Chandigarh is not compromised”.
Badal also launched a frontal attack on chief minister Bhagwant Mann on the occasion. He said even now during electioneering the chief minister was indulging in cheap stunts. “Bhagwant Mann is doing road shows after closing down markets and clogging the area with his own vehicles and then claiming he has public support. He does not even get down from his vehicle, leave meeting anyone in even his home constituency of Dhuri where people have put up ‘missing’ posters in his name. These shows are being repeated from town to town causing a huge loss to shopkeepers and their trade”. The SAD president also questioned the chief minister’s ability to run the State saying “someone who was deboarded from an international flight in Frankfurt in a drunken condition and even now indulges in antics on the top of his vehicle during electioneering cannot be trusted to run the State”.
Mr Badal also spoke on how former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi had looted the State during his three month tenure as chief minister by indulging in unprecedented corruption.
The SAD president also appealed to the people to strengthen the SAD so that it could defeat the nefarious designs to weaken the party as well as its religious institutions. He said over the years the RSS had taken over control of Takht Sri Hazur Sahib and Sri Patna Sahib. “The SGPC has been broken and a separate gurdwara panel has been established in Haryana. To reverse this trend it is imperative to strengthen the SAD”.
Party candidate Mohinder Singh Kaypee while speaking on the occasion said none of the genuine demands of Punjabis had been resolved during the last ten years of BJP government in the centre. He said in such a situation only a regional party could voice the demands of the State and get them resolved. Senior leaders Manjit Singh GK, Former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur, Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Kulwant Singh Manan, Bachitar Singh Kohar, Baldev Singh Khaira, R S Khurana and R S Chandi also spoke on the occasion.