Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Navjot Singh Sidhu's outburst against the Punjab government has provided fodder to the opposition Congress to corner the ruling alliance.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar, who was here to attend a party function on Friday, said Sidhu's disclosure that he was being treated like an opposition MP had vindicated the party's stand about the biased working of the Akali-BJP government.
The CLP leader said the Congress was happy that Sidhu had spoken the truth and confirmed what the party had been alleging during the past six years of the alliance's rule.
"If Sidhu, an MP from the ruling alliance, has been dealt with in this way, people can gauge how this government has been treating genuine demands of Congress MLAs and MPs," Jakhar said on the sidelines of the function.
The senior Congress leader said Sidhu's allegations had endorsed the party's view that the Badals did not believe in democracy.
"The treatment meted out to Sidhu shows that the Badals believe in the politics of might and money. Leaders of the BJP, which as an alliance partner was supposed to corner the Shiromani Akali Dal-led government for its wrong policies, have preferred to sit in the Badals' lap to get good posts. Sidhu did not do so and the result is before everyone," Jakhar said.
'We are united'
Justifying former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh's plan to hold road shows across the state, Jakhar said the move was aimed at exposing the state government's misdeeds ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. "When the aim is to oppose wrong policies in the state, the entire state Congress unit is united, including state party chief Partap Singh Bajwa and Amarinder," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Justifying former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh's plan to hold road shows across the state, Jakhar said the move was aimed at exposing the state government's misdeeds ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. "When the aim is to oppose wrong policies in the state, the entire state Congress unit is united, including state party chief Partap Singh Bajwa and Amarinder," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Inflated power bills
On the issue of inflated power bills issued to domestic and industrial consumers across the state, the CLP leader said the party would raise the issue vigorously in the next Vidhan Sabha session.
"In the past week, people of the state have received shocking bills as the state government has included heavy advance payments to be taken from domestic and industrial consumers. Even segments to which the government claims to provide subsidised power have not been spared," Jakhar alleged.