Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Capt Amarinder Singh today asked Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh to tell one thing he had done for the youth of Punjab as chief minister and said the Congress leader was guilty of ruining future of one entire generation of youth by denying them access to all employment avenues.Asking Mr Amarinder Singh not to befool youth like he tried to do with farmers earlier, the SAD president said the PCC chief simply needed to answer in yes or no whether he had completely banned all recruitment in Punjab during his tenure as CM or not? Didn’t this ban make all the youth of the time ineligible for government recruitment?Saying Amarinder was responsible for ushering in massive unemployment in Punjab, he asked how the Punjabi youth could believe this man ever again. “You may promise the moon because you are desperate to get a toehold into power but your track record speaks for itself. Not only did you ban recruitment but also abolished every job which fell vacant on retirement. It fell to us to recreate vacancies and successfully recruit 2.25 lakh youth into government service. We have also given permanent jobs to thousands of youth doing contractual service”.
Telling Amarinder not to befool the people in his frustration at being denied power two successive times in Punjab, he asked him to first tell if he had ever given an unemployment dole to the unemployed youth during his stint as chief minister. “Forget employment doles, even employment exchanges folded up during your tenure as CM as you discouraged them from keeping a tab on the unemployed”.The SAD president said this was typical Amarinder behavior. “Earlier he remembered that he had to promise something to farmers to get their votes after having stopped free power facility to farmers for their tubewell connections as CM. This same man even stopped the ‘shagun’ scheme to under privileged brides which he now wants to raise”.Asking Amarinder to put his mouth where his money was, Mr Badal said “you can never compare with Sardar Badal (Parkash Singh) who has walked the talk and always delivered on his promises”. He said this was the reason why Amarinder’s promises were being met with derision and his team of managers had even fudged forms to show a record collection which was much more than all the farmers put together in the State. I am sure your managers will conduct a similar fraudulent exercise to keep you happy in your cocoon”, he said adding “respect cannot be earned by lies, fraud and deceit. It has to be earned the hard way through din of hard work and standing up to ones word like Sardar Badal does”.