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Kejri promises holy city status to Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib
Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal promised holy city status to Amritsar and Anandpur Sahibon Friday, if his party forms the government
Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal promised holy city status to Amritsar and Anandpur Sahibon Friday, if his party forms the government in Punjab.
The Sikh-dominated state goes to polls early next year.
He also promised a ban on liquor, tobacco, cigarette and meat in the walled city of Amritsar.
After paying obeisance at the Golden Temple, Kejriwal said, “Whenever I come here, I get a lot of peace.” Stressing that the war on corruption and drugs in Punjab was at a decisive stage, Kejriwal said he had come to the holiest Sikh shrine to pray for the strength to carry on the fight.
Kejriwal appeared to have lost public and worker support from his previous visits. Mass resignation broke the party’s Amritsar unit over the sacking of Sucha Singh Chhotepur as state AAP convener after a cash-for-poll-ticket sting. Party’s zonal in charge Gurinder Bajwa also quit.
On Friday, the support looked thin even in the presence of heavyweight leaders such as Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, state unit convener Gurpreet Ghuggi, senior advocate and party candidate from Dakha in Ludhiana, HS Phoolka, and local candidate Inderbir Singh Nijjer.
On Thursday, Amritsar’s former Bharatiya Jan at a Party MP Navjot Singh Sidhu had accused Kejriwal of not letting him into the AAP out of “insecurity”.
At the house of former Akali councillor Amarjit Singh Bhatia, who joined his party, the AAP convener shunned the media to avoid answering this charge.
Besides Bhatia, Kejriwal also met the leaders of a few farmer unions.
Bhatia, a two-time councillor, said, “I won from ward 43 as an Independent and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal later. I quit the party over the incidents of the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab. The culprits remain free. The Badals (Punjab’s ruling family) pushed the state into a crisis. The AAP is a good alternative.”
