Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president and former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh said everyone in Punjab knew who was behind the smuggling of narcotics in the state but the police was unable to check it due to the lack of support from the state government.
Amarinder said so while addressing party workers during a district-level meeting held in Gurdaspur on Tuesday.
Speaking on the standard of education in government schools in Punjab, Amarinder said that 78 per cent of the students failed their examinations last year, but the SAD-BJP government did not have time to address such problems.
He said that over 70 percent of the children in the state came from poor families, so it was the duty of the state government to ensure imparting quality education to them too.
Amarinder gave the Dr Manmohan Singh, who studied in a government primary school in a small village but went on to become the Prime Minister of India.
Recognising the role of the workers in a party, Amarinder said that a party could not be strong if party workers were weak. He promised them due respect and share in party offices, advising them to observe discipline and be united to ensure the party’s victory in the upcoming Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections.
Amarinder lashed out at Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal saying that his “misrule” has brought the once prosperous state of Punjab to the brink of destruction. He said that farmers, traders, youths and women all suffered in the SAD-BJP tenure. He said that everyone was “fed up” with the SAD-BJP regime and were looking forward to an opportunity to throw it out of power.
{{/usCountry}}Amarinder lashed out at Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal saying that his “misrule” has brought the once prosperous state of Punjab to the brink of destruction. He said that farmers, traders, youths and women all suffered in the SAD-BJP tenure. He said that everyone was “fed up” with the SAD-BJP regime and were looking forward to an opportunity to throw it out of power.
{{/usCountry}}Amarinder said the party would announce the names of the party candidates for 2017 state assembly elections six months before the election. He said not more than one party ticket would be allotted to a family during the elections.
He said that if the Congress came to power in 2017, panchayats would have full rights in the matters of the panchayats. He said at least one member of each household would be given a job. Reacting to the demand of Gurdaspur district Congress Committee president and Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Amarinder said a new sugar mill would be set up in the district to generate job opportunities.
Earlier Amarinder interacted with the party workers who centred their questions around issues such as unemployment, problems faced by farmers, deteriorating condition of education, false cases against Congress workers and the infighting among the district party leaders and workers.
Amarinder promised to solve the problems of the area on coming to power.
He asserted that Congress was sure of coming to power after the coming of state assembly elections as every section of the society was dismayed with the poor performance of the Badal government and Aam Aadmi Party had no existence in the state.
In reply to a query, Amarinder said that Parshant Kishore was an adviser and strategist for Congress for the coming Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections as he had done for the election campaign of Narendra Modi and Natish Kumar.
Meanwhile when contacted to ask about his role for Punjab Congress, Parshan Kishore told Hindustan Times that he was playing no role for Congress. “I do not give interviews,” he added.