List of corrupt politicians ready, action follows: Punjab CM

Bhagwant Mann holds roadshow while campaigning for his confidant, Gurmail Singh, who is the AAP’s Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection candidate, at Bhadaur in Barnala

A day after Aam Aadmi Party national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal described his government in Punjab as fiercely honest and one which has not hesitated in taking tough decisions to rein in corruption during its three-month tenure, chief minister Bhagwant Mann said that exemplary action would be taken against politicians who had looted the state to fill their coffers.

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann during a roadshow in support of the Aam Aadmi Party candidate for the Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection, Gurmail Singh, at Bhadaur in Barnala on Thursday. (HT Photo)

Addressing a roadshow while campaigning for Gurmail Singh, the AAP’s Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection candidate, at Bhadaur in Barnala, Mann said the government had prepared a list of such corrupt politicians. “We have lodged many inside jails and some are waiting for their turn. Lists have been prepared. We will take action against them on a firm footing so that they cannot get bail. They have eaten your tax money. It will be refunded from them and spent on you. I just need some more time,” Mann said.

Taking a dig at the Congress by citing corruption charges against former forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Mann said: “They have even sold the state’s oxygen for their greed. We are talking about saving Punjab’s trees, water and land but here they sold the state’s oxygen and trees. They forget that they also have to breathe this oxygen.”

Slamming the Shiromani Akali Dal for playing politics on Sikh prisoners, he said: “There is no such clause that says that you can get the Sikh prisoner released after being elected as a member of Parliament. If an MP could free Sikh prisoners, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal should get it done as they are both MPs. I also want that all prisoners who have completed their sentences should be released.”

During his address, Mann said that he has been receiving threats every day. “They can’t accept that a common man has become the chief minister and he is also taking decisions,” he added.