Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
RAJPURA (PATIALA) July 4: Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh today advised the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to come out of his medieval mindset as the world had moved past his two centuries old Sangat Darshan idea. “Punjab today does not need your medieval practice of distributing grants at your whims, it needs proper and long term planning”, he told Mr Badal while addressing a largely attended public meeting organised by the local MLA Hardayal Kambhoj here today.
Reacting to Mr Badal’s criticism of his public meetings and mass contact programme, Capt Amarinder told him, “the mass contact programmes are like these organised by us where people are not forced and lured with bogus cheques, but come of their own like they are coming in the Congress meetings”. He reiterated that Badal could not think beyond his arcane Sangat Darshan programmes that eventually led to eroding economy with 130 lakh crore debt, unemployment and closure of the industry.
Pointing out that the drug scourge was eating into vitals of the society, the former Chief Minister held Akalis responsible for it saying the drug smugglers were protected and patronised by them (the Akalis) only. He said, while small time drug addicts were being jailed, the big smugglers were roaming free with Badals’ help.
He asked Badal to look beyond his personal and family interests and think about Punjab. He pointed out, Mr Badal had inherited just 80 acres of land from his father and now his assets were worth billions. He said, while the roads in Punjab were crying for attention as the government had no money, Badal built a special road in Mullanpur that leads to his under construction five star hotel there.
Congratulating Hardayal Kambhoj for organising a great programme with large public attendance, Capt Amarinder said, it reflected the widespread anger and resentment against the government. He said, wherever he was going people were coming out in huge numbers to express support and solidarity wanting to get rid of the Akalis at the earliest.
The senior Congress leader promised that once Congress formed the government, it will focus on developing industry and infrastructure which will not only help in creating the jobs but also generating employment. He recalled that during his Chief Ministership he had provided concessions to the mega-projects worth 100 crores and above on the condition they would provide 2000 local jobs. He regretted that the Badals reversed it and wanted their share from the mega-projects and with the result they moved out.
Speaking on the occasion, the Congress Legislative Party leader Sunil Jakhar said, Capt Amarinder’s rallies had created storm across Punjab and shaken the Akali-BJP regime. He said, the Akalis, no less than the Chief Minister Badal were regularly getting humiliated by the BJP leaders and they were not even in a position to protest.
Former MP and Patiala MLA Ms Preneet Kaur also addressed the meeting.
Senior party leader Mr Laal Singh and Nabha MLA Sadhu Singh Dharamsot left early after addressing the meeting as they had prior engagements
Among others present on the occasion included Sunil Jakhar, Preneet Kaur, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Kewal Dhillon, Sukh Sarkaria, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Balbir Sidhu, Gur Iqbal Kaur, Mohammad Sadiq, Bir Devinder Singh, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Madan Lal Jalalpur, Nirmal Singh Shatrana, Surjit Singh Kaka Lohgarh, Gurmail Pahalwan, Pawan Dewan, Sanjeev Sharma Bittu and others.
