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Arvind Kejriwal’s pre-poll promises are mere ‘lollipops’: Navjot Sidhu
Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu says people would not fall prey to populist schemes without a policy framework and defined budget allocations
Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday hit out at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying the latter’s pre-poll promises were mere “lollipops”.
This come s a day after Kejriwal praised the Congress leader for raising issues against his party government in Punjab.
Sidhu, who was in Amritsar for the inauguration of development works to the tune of ₹24 crore, “If you give a lollipop of 26 lakh jobs to people, it means that if you will have to pay ₹30,000 per employee. For this, you need ₹93,000 crore. Then for giving ₹1,000 for every woman will require ₹12000 crore. Also, ₹3,600 crore is needed for free power up to 2 kW connections. These three announcements (by Kejriwal) require ₹1.10 lakh crore where Punjab’s total budget is ₹72,000 crore.”
He said their Punjab model is about filling the state’s coffers. “I also praise him (Kejriwal) as he has done good work in Delhi. But Punjab and Delhi are different. Delhi is self-dependent while Punjab has a debt of ₹7 lakh crore,” he added.
Taking a jibe at former CM Amarinder Singh, Sidhi said those who attack CM Charanjit Singh Channi were playing in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi like puppets due to fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
“CM Channi’s intent is right. What they couldn’t do in four years, he has done in three months,” he said.
‘People won’t fall prey to populist schemes’
Also in a series of tweets, Sidhu said people would not fall prey to populist schemes without a policy framework and defined budget allocations.
He said the state needed a policy-based structural transformation of its economy. “Schemes are just made to take credit, a fast-paced reaction to popular demands, without thought of governance and economy. True leaders will not give lollipops but will focus on building foundations of society and economy,” he said.
The comments came days after Kejriwal and Channi announced populist promises and concessions in the run-up to the assembly polls.
On Monday, the Punjab CM had also announced capping of cable TV connection rate at ₹100 per month. Without directly referring to Channi’s announcement, Sidhu said he introduced the Punjab Entertainment Taxes Bill to end to strengthen local operators and end one firm’s monopoly, making it pay due taxes to government and then transfer the benefit of cheaper connections to people.
“Sops will empty the state treasury and kill livelihoods and do nothing to truly uplift the poor and eradicate tyranny of multiple-system operators such as FastWay,” he claimed.
