The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President, Partap Singh Bajwa, said the fifth time Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, had made a mockery of the elecoral system and the Election Commission of India by openly calling upon the industrialists in Jalandhar to fund the poll campaign of the Akali Dal candidate, Pawan Kumar Tinnu, saying that electioneering costs crores of rupees, many times more than the limit prescribed on poll expenses.Bajwa, who addressed a series of meetings in the Assembly Constituency Bhoa today, dwelt on the issue of constitutional and moral responsibility of a senior leader like Badal who made the comments in the presence of TV journalists.“It is too well known that the so called strategy and tactics of the self-proclaimed election management wizard and the Deputy Chief Minister,Sukhbir Singh Badal, is the use of money and muscle power to win elections. This public confession by Badal has only reinforced this perception. it shows to what level the Badals can go to win the election”, he added.
He said it was too well known a fact that it was Badal who was the first in the state to introduce the use of money power beginning with his very second election which he had lost against the Congress. He recalled that Badal had contested his very first election in 1957 on the Congress ticket, his heritage which he later disowned.He said Mr. Badal was the biggest hypocrite , rank opportunist and a ruthless politician who had always been swimming along the tide. He said the Jalandhar incident had once again exposed his real which.He said it was such funding of the elections by the industrialists which was at the root of corruption and it was Mr. Badal who was promoting such means whereas a fifth time chief minister should have been setting an example in the implementation of the model code of conduct of which the polls expenses is a part.
He lambasted Mr. Badal for perpetuating corruption as evident from the multiplication of the assets of the Badal family which had a hand in every pie and had taken over the transport business forcing out even small transporters. “How come that the business of the Badal family has flourished only when in power?”, he asked.He said the issues arising out of Mr. Badal’s interaction with the industrialists to seek funds for Mr. Tinnu were not just technical but related to broader questions of morality and ethics, besides violation of the electoral laws by the Chief Minister himself, he added.Referring to the so called development agenda of the Badal government, he said both Mr. Badal and his son must visit Bhoa area which represented the other Punjab and where development had always remained elusive. This region would teach them the real meaning of development as every basic amenity was lacking here, he added.During his Bhoa meeting Sh. Balbir Singh Fatehpuria, Raman Bhalla Ex-MLA, Ram Lal Ex-MLA, Smt. Raj Kumar Sarpanch Bhoa, Sh. Raj Kumar Pradhan Block Congress Committee Taragarh, Satinder Pinka President BCC Sarna, Anil Dara, ,Anil Vij President DCC Pathankot, Naresh Puri, Raj Kumar Neela, Kiran Bala Zila Parishad Member were present .