Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh claims that the farmers’ manifesto of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is a “poor carbon copy” of his party’s old document of election promises.
“The AAP lacks the confidence to commit to anything,” Amarinder said. “It has promised farmers conditional loan waiver, while the Congress has already promised them unconditional loan waiver. There are so many ifs and buts in the AAP manifesto.”
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Referring to the other AAP promises such as a law to save farmers’ land from being auctioned in case of loan default, besides confiscation of Badal buses and handing those over to unemployed youth, Amarinder said the Congress had made these commitments long ago.
On the AAP’s promising to lift farm produce within 24 hours of its arriving in the grain markets and making payment within 72 hours, the former chief minister said he had done it already between 2002 and 2007, and “Punjab’s farmers know about it”. He took a dig at AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying he “avoided” any reference to the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal issue, “otherwise repeated everything from the Congress manifesto”. “Doesn’t it portray a lack of sincerity and commitment to the promises they made?” Amarinder asked. The AAP has promised to re-register the land acquired for the SYL Canal in the name of original owners and form a ‘water regulatory authority’ to protect the state’s water.
{{/usCountry}}On the AAP’s promising to lift farm produce within 24 hours of its arriving in the grain markets and making payment within 72 hours, the former chief minister said he had done it already between 2002 and 2007, and “Punjab’s farmers know about it”. He took a dig at AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying he “avoided” any reference to the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal issue, “otherwise repeated everything from the Congress manifesto”. “Doesn’t it portray a lack of sincerity and commitment to the promises they made?” Amarinder asked. The AAP has promised to re-register the land acquired for the SYL Canal in the name of original owners and form a ‘water regulatory authority’ to protect the state’s water.
{{/usCountry}}Congress holds parallel bike rally
Baghapurana (Moga): Parallel to the AAP rally, Baghapurana Congress leadership led by former MLA Darshan Brar and his son Kamaljit Singh Brar organised a bike rally to show its strength in the constituency. Youths on about 100 bikes carrying party flags and Tricolours, raised slogans against the AAP and appealed to the public to bring back the Congress to power.
Members of the Mahila Congress unit of Baghapurana led by Congress leader Veerpal Kaur also held a protest against Kejriwal at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk here on Sunday. The workers were protesting against the alleged sexual exploitation of women by the AAP leaders. HTC