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Navjot Sidhu exposing Punjab CM Channi’s false promises, Congress suppressing his voice: Kejriwal
25 Congress MLA in touch with them to join AAP, will declare CM face near polls, says Aam Aadmi Party supremo and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu was exposing false promises made by the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government in the state and that his party (Sidhu’s) party was trying to suppress his voice.
Addressing a press conference in Amritsar on the second day of his two-day visit to Punjab, the AAP supremo, who was accompanied by party’s Punjab president Bhagwant Mann, state affairs incharge Jarnail Singh and co-incharge Raghav Chadha, praised the “courage shown by Sidhu in doing so from the stage”.
“Yesterday, CM Channi claimed that his government has ended the sand mafia and reduced the prices of sand. Soon after, Mr Sidhu said this was wrong and he (Channi) was lying. He highlighted that the mafia is still operating and sand is being sold at old prices. I salute his courage,” said Kejriwal.
Sidhu is raising people-centric issues, he said, adding that first it was Captain (Amarinder Singh) and now it’s Channi who is suppressing his voice.
The Punjab CM hasn’t fulfilled his promises like giving free electricity to the people and constructing mohalla clinics, he said. “Corruption is still rampant in the state,” the AAP leader claimed.
Responding to a query, Kejriwal clarified that he himself was not a CM candidate. “Every party usually declares its CM candidate a few weeks before the elections. But we will do so before other parties,” he said.
He claimed that many Congress leaders were in touch with them and wanted to join AAP but they won’t accept “garbage”. “Two or three Congress MPs and nearly 25 MLAs want to join our party. This is dirty politics we will not indulge in it,” he said on MLAs leaving the AAP.
The AAP leader said it was not right to call ₹1,000 per month each to women, free education, medical treatment and electricity as freebies. “In western countries, it is called social security. We have decided is that the government facilities that ministers and MLAs enjoy for free will be given to the general public,” he said.
8 guarantees to teachers for education reforms
Kejriwal called upon all teachers to join the AAP’s campaign to transform government schools in Punjab like Delhi. He said the plight of government schools and teachers in Punjab was unfortunate. He promised 8 guarantees to teachers for comprehensive reforms in the state’s education sector if the AAP forms government in 2022.
The guarantees includes creating a Delhi-like environment in schools, regularising outsourced and contractual teachers, implementing a transparent transfer policy, ban on non-teaching work being assigned to teachers, regular hiring on vacant posts, sending teachers abroad for training, a transparent policy for new promotions and providing cashless medical facilities for teachers and their family.
Later, interacting with traders and industrialists from Amritsar and surrounding areas, he promised to set up a commission, abolish ‘inspector raj’, fixing VAT refunds, ensuring power supply, setting up of ‘Punjab bazaar’ portal, and construction and development of focal points.
