Gurdaspur bypoll: AAP will field candidate with clean image, says Sukhpal Khaira
Khaira said, “Though the former Gurdaspur MLA Vinod Khanna was a celebrity, he was an outsider and he rarely attended the Parliament sessions.”
Punjab Vidhan Sabha Opposition leader and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira said that the party will field a local leader with clean image in the upcoming Gurdaspur bypoll. He was addressing the media before holding a meeting with the party leaders and workers from Gurdaspur and Pathankot district here on Wednesday.
Khaira said, “Though the former Gurdaspur MLA Vinod Khanna was a celebrity, he was an outsider and he rarely attended the Parliament sessions.” Khaira pointed out that for any election, a candidate should be a local as he/she will then know the area and the needs of people better.
He said that the AAP candidate will have better prospects of winning Gurdaspur bypoll as the Congress government, led by Captain Amarinder Singh, had failed to fulfil even one pre-poll promise. Commenting on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Khaira said that SAD will remain an ill-reputed party as long as Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia are holding party reins.
He further added that all 22 MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, the district leadership and party candidates from all nine assembly constituencies will work together to ensure victory of the AAP candidate in the upcoming Gurdaspur bypoll.
“Captain Amarinder Singh is a defunct and absentee chief minister. He has missed many party functions, including its Rakharh Punniya event at Baba Bakala, but aiming at the upcoming election here, he presided over the Independence Day function in Gurdaspur and announced many sops and projects to woo the voters,” he said.
Demands agrarian emergency
“Farmers are undergoing a financial crisis in Punjab, Karnatka, Maharashtra, Telanga, Andhra Pradesh and any other states. The Centre should declare an agrarian emergency in India,” he said. He advised the farmers to stop taking such extreme steps. He suggested them to gherao all MLA’s and ministers of Congress, when they move in their respective constituencies.
Khaira termed the announcement of Rs 1,500 crore loan waiver for the farmers of Punjab by Captain government ‘meagre’ and sought for total loan waiver. He said that a report of the Reserve Bank of India stated that there is a bad debt worth Rs 1,16,000 crore and 25% of it is owed by only 12 capitalist families. “Implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report is the ultimate solution to the problems faced by farmers,” he said.