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Jakhar accuses AAP, Congress of trying to create anti-BJP narrative in state
Addressing a press conference, BJP chief Sunil Jakhar said such attempts to spread hatred against the Centre in a border state like Punjab could prove dangerous for the future of the state
Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Sunil Jakhar on Thursday lashed out at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AA) and the Congress alleging that both the parties are deliberately working in alliance to divert people’s attention from the real issues of Punjab and are jointly spreading misinformation against the central government and the BJP.
Addressing a press conference, Jakhar said such attempts to spread hatred against the Centre in a border state like Punjab could prove dangerous for the future of the state.
Jakhar said after six months, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann has finally admitted that ₹13,000 crore was received from the Centre for disaster relief, out of which only ₹477 crore was spent, and the rest was allegedly misused by previous governments.
He expressed surprise that it took the CM so long to review the government treasury records. On the other hand, he said, leaders of the Congress whom the CM is accusing of misusing funds, are acting as defenders of the AAP government in Parliament.
He said the Congress has failed in its role as an opposition, and its leaders have either “sold their voice” to Mann or lost the ability to speak due to their past corruption.
Jakhar countered what he called a false narrative against the BJP-led central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi by presenting data.
He said during the UPA government, the agriculture budget was ₹21,933 crore, whereas under the NDA government it has increased to ₹1.3-lakh crore.
“Under the PM-Kisan scheme, ₹4.27 lakh crore has been directly transferred to farmers’ bank accounts. Fertilizer subsidies, which were ₹18,460 crore during the UPA era, have increased to ₹1.77 lakh crore under the BJP government this year. The UPA spent ₹4.75 lakh crore on MSP procurement, while the BJP government has spent ₹18.98 lakh crore,” said Jakhar.
He added that procurement of pulses and oilseeds at MSP has started for the first time, and in Punjab, every grain of wheat and paddy is being procured at MSP by the central government.
Targeting the Punjab CM, Jakhar questioned why the state government has not implemented its own agriculture policy.
He said that the draft of the farmer policy has been ready since October 2023, so what is the CM waiting for? He questioned what steps are being taken if there are shortcomings in the policy. He added that if the government can formulate an industrial policy with the help of industrialists, why can’t it prepare an agriculture policy with farmers?
Responding to a question about the pricing of Punjab’s water, Jakhar said that BJP has always maintained that Punjab should get its legal rights. However, he clarified that the entire expenditure on canals and water channels in the state has been funded by the Government of India, and the CM is taking credit for projects built using central funds while simultaneously criticising the Centre.
