Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Wednesday that chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s challenge to the authority of the state governor was unfortunate. He said if the CM was of the opinion that a ‘selected’ governor had no right to question an elected representative, then why was he allowing persons like Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Raghav Chadha, who were not elected from Punjab, to run state’s affairs.
Talking to media persons, the SAD president said that the chief minister was solely responsible for the constitutional crisis that had emerged in the state.
“He is refusing to answer questions related to corruption and misgovernance. The governor asked him what was being asked by all the political parties and well-meaning citizens. When their RTI queries were ignored, the parties approached the governor to ask the chief minister to furnish information on the unconstitutional decisions taken by the government,” Sukhbir said.
He said the SAD was a strong votary of federalism and opposed unnecessary interference of the Centre but the chief minister should reply to the governor and come clean on the issues directly related to the people of Punjab.
“Our party had approached the governor to make AAP government accountable for the public money it laundered on advertisements issued outside Punjab prior to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections and recover the entire amount,” he said, adding that the same money could have been spent on welfare schemes.
{{/usCountry}}“Our party had approached the governor to make AAP government accountable for the public money it laundered on advertisements issued outside Punjab prior to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections and recover the entire amount,” he said, adding that the same money could have been spent on welfare schemes.
{{/usCountry}}Sukhbir said that contrary to the claims of the CM, the industry was shifting out of Punjab. Similarly, the claims of giving 2.5 lakh jobs to the youth too were false, he added.
Meanwhile, during his day-long tour of the assembly constituency, the SAD president paid obeisance at gurdwara Shaheed Nihal Singh Talhan, Nirmal Kutiya Johlan and dera Bapu Mangal Das in Ucha village. He interacted with residents of Talhan, Hajara, Dhadour and Ucha.
AAP has put Punjab health sector in jeopardy
Chandigarh: Reacting to the Union government’s decision to stop the next instalment of ₹546 crore to Punjab under the National Health Mission (NHM) for branding health wellness clinics as Aam Aadmi Clinics, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema on Wednesday said that the entire health sector of the state would be in jeopardy in case the grant was not released.
“The name-changing spree of the chief minister Bhagwant Mann is costing Punjab dearly. Poor patients would suffer due to the unwarranted ego clash between the Union government and AAP government,” Cheema said.
He added that the AAP government had already destroyed the established health infrastructure of the state by turning rural dispensaries into Aam Aadmi Clinics at an exorbitant renovation cost. “Primary and community health centres were downgraded in the process and even doctors working in hospitals rendering emergency services were shifted to these clinics to satisfy the whims of the AAP,” said the former minister adding that other development projects were likely to be affected because the AAP government had diverted central funds for its pet projects.