E-Paper
Confident of winning all 13 Lok Sabha seats: Punjab Congress
Senior Congress leaders urged the former party legislators to raise the grievances of the public and expose misgovernance of the AAP as the Congress is confident to win all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections scheduled for 2024
The Punjab Congress gathered in Mansa on Monday to make a clarion call for the next Lok Sabha elections and added that the party is all set for an electoral battle against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Senior Congress leaders urged the former party legislators to raise the grievances of the public and expose misgovernance of the AAP as the Congress is confident to win all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the general elections scheduled for 2024.
Led by the state party chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, the Congress leaders targetted chief minister Bhagwant Mann for not releasing compensation to villagers, who suffered losses in the recent floods.
Warring termed the CM for leading a ‘kisan maru sarkar’ that is reluctant to assist the farmers in distress. He said farmers of Mansa suffered huge losses due to flooding in Ghaggar river and the state government is busy making only the statements.
“Farmers have faced the brunt of floods and the government is sleeping. Crops were damaged and fields have huge silt deposits and farmers are seeing a bleak future to sow the next crops as well. There is an inordinate delay in granting financial assistance to the affected population and the Congress leadership has decided to fight for the Punjabi brethren,” he said.
Warring said similar protests will be held in Patiala, Rupnagar and other parts of the state that were hit by floods as the agrarian community has not received a penny for the widespread losses they suffered in the floods. He also flayed the Centre for giving paltry flood relief package to Punjab.
“CM Mann had announced to release funds without girdawari but there is no word on compensation by the state government. On the other hand, the Centre has released financial aid of ₹218 crore for flood-hit Punjabis. Both governments have failed miserably on all fronts,” said Warring.
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said the entire Punjab unit of the Congress is united to fight against the AAP and there is no question to have an electoral alliance with the ruling dispensation of the state.
“Punjab has about ₹7,000 crore in its kitty given by the Centre in the past eight years for disaster relief. The CM had said the farmers will not need to wait for formal loss assessment as people will be compensated early even for goats and poultry losses. But the government is not ready to open the exchequer to honour CM’s public statement,” said Bajwa.
Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Kharia said the recent floods were mainly manmade as pre-monsoon preparedness to clean drains was delayed.
