Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Nakodar, Insistent on setting up a one-on-one competition with the Congress, the SAD today announced it would hold its Sadbhavna Rally in Patiala on December 15. The declaration followed yesterday’s decision of the Congress to postpone its rally in Bathinda from December 13 to 15.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who made the announcement at the fourth Sadbhavna Rally of the party in this Doaba town, sought to woo NRIs by promising a “comfortable stay” in Punjab, claiming that power cuts were now a thing of the past.
The Deputy Chief Minister also said a super expressway had been finalised from Amritsar to New Delhi, which would cut the travel time from nine hours to just two and a half. He had arrived at the rally site in a helicopter from Jalandhar.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, also addressing the rally, said he wished Capt Amarinder Singh had also come to the Sadbhavna rallies and seen the response. Referring to the planned taking over of Capt Amarinder Singh as PPCC president at the Bathinda rally, Badal said the Congress leader could have simply taken charge at the PPCC office, but he had scheduled a “coronation ceremony” because he still nurtured aspirations of being a Maharaja.
Continuing his tirade against Capt Amarinder, Badal alleged the new PPCC president had held “parkash” of Guru Granth Sahib in his official house in Chandigarh, where he also had a bar, albeit in a separate room.
The Chief Minister announced that steps were being taken to facilitate the use of canal water for irrigation in Nawanshahr under a project worth Rs 300 crore.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal told the Doaba crowd that their NRI kin were not finding the stay in Punjab comfortable earlier because of power cuts, but the problem had now been addressed.
He said villagers would also now receive public services with convenience at “seva kendras”, which would be set up in villages soon.
Sukhbir said Congress leaders, who had challenged SAD leaders to visit villages in the wake of the recent disturbances in the state, would not be able to visit rural areas themselves once the SAD’s sadbhawna rallies were over.
Among the leaders present at the show of strength were MLA Pargat Singh, former ministers Upinderjit Kaur and Sarwan S Phillaur, BJP MLA Manoranjan Kalia, BJP Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Som Prakash, former BJP minister Tikshan Sud, and Nakodar MLA Gurpartap Singh Wadala.
SAD leader Jagir Kaur, Education Minister Daljit Cheema, Transport Minister Ajit S Kohar, Mohinder Kaur Josh, and CPS Pawan Tinu also participated in the rally.
Daljit Cheema said “no one is scared of Capt Amarinder Singh. We will defeat him for the third time”. He added, “The country got independence after much struggle, and yet Capt Amarinder Singh wants people to address him as Maharaja.”
DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK said the SAD would take revenge on the Congress for the 1984 riots.
BJP state president Kamal Sharma asked Doaba residents to convince NRIs coming home this season not to support any “conspiracy or false propaganda planned against the government using social media or the Internet”.
