Mann, Chhotepur urge people to vote for AAP in 2017 elections
Earlier, the Punjab villages were known by the names of its martyrs, armymen and wrestlers, but today they are known for drug smugglers and corrupt politicians. Stating this at its “Punjab Jodo” campaign here on Saturday, Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann said if voted to power, his party would bring back the lost glory of Punjab, which has become ‘corrupt’ and ailing with many other problems, including ‘drug abuse’ at present.
GURDASPUR: Earlier, the Punjab villages were known by the names of its martyrs, armymen and wrestlers, but today they are known for drug smugglers and corrupt politicians. Stating this at its “Punjab Jodo” campaign here on Saturday, Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann said if voted to power, his party would bring back the lost glory of Punjab, which has become ‘corrupt’ and ailing with many other problems, including ‘drug abuse’ at present.
Mocking Punjab chief minister’s reported statement about turning Punjab into California, Mann said AAP would get rid of the VIP culture in the state. “Red beacons atop the motor cars of political leaders will be removed. We will also ensure that the common man is not made to feel inferior in any way,” he said, expressing his serious concern about the receding glory of ancient Punjab.
Mann opined that the present SAD-BJP government was nothing but a business company and it had no intention of doing public welfare. He said the motto of the Akalis was to amass maximum wealth while in power and spend it to buy votes in the elections to ensure their victory.
Mann advised the people to take offered money from the Akalis during the coming Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections, but vote for the AAP candidates in the larger interest of the state.
He asked the people to give up the tradition of rotating Akalis with Congress and vice-versa and urged them to give a chance to the third force, that is AAP, in 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. Mann promised that AAP would offer a transparent, honest and development-oriented governance if voted to power.
AAP organised a massive gathering at the PUDA ground on the Jail Road today, giving a signal of its potential existence in the area.
Addressing the rally, Sucha Singh Chhotepur Punjab convener, AAP, held the Punjab CM responsible for the deteriorating financial condition of the farmers who were sometimes driven by their poverty to commit suicide.
Chhotepur lauded AAP’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for giving the farmers `20,000 per acre as compensation for their damaged crops in Delhi. Chhotepur said Kejriwal had joined politics to bring upheaval change in the “corrupted” political system of the country in which common man would be more important.
Chhotepur said Kejriwal wanted Lokpal Bill to be passed to bring everyone from the Prime Minister to a small government servant under it, so that guilty, irrespective of his office, could be booked and tried.
Chhotepur held the SAD-BJP government responsible for spreading the menace of drug abuse in the state and spoiling the lives of the youth. Chhotepur said the number of liquor vends was more than number of villages in Punjab.
Chhotepur promised that if AAP came to power after 2017 Assembly elections, it would control the problem of drug abuse within two months. He said the AAP government would improve the condition of farming and bring back the industries and businesses, which have shifted to other states, back to Punjab again. He also said the AAP government would give unemployment allowance to the unemployed youth.
Quoting Chanakya and hinting at the businesses owned by the Punjab chief minister and his family, Chhotepur said, “When the “King” becomes a businessman, the people will naturally turn beggars.”