Terming the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a ‘bunch of unprincipled leaders’, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that due to the ongoing ‘tug of war’ this party would be vanished from political arena of state before the ensuing Vidhan Sabha elections. Interacting with the media persons on the sidelines of the Sangat Darshan program in Amargarh assembly segment here today, the Chief Minister said that what else could be the fate of the party whose two Parliamentarians and one state convener besides several other leaders were quitting the party one after another. He said that it was a clear indication that this ‘house of cards’ would crumble soon. Feigning ignorance about the missing AAP MP Mr. Bhagwant Mann, Mr. Badal said that he was not having any knowledge about his gone missing adding that if needed government would trace the Lok Sabha MP as it was duty of every government to trace the missing persons. On another query, the Chief Minister said that the state government was fully ready to tackle the menace of Dengue in the state adding that necessary directions have been given to the Health department to take all the preventive steps to control this disease.
Felicitating the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi on his birthday, the Chief Minister said that as the Prime Minister Mr. Modi had put the country on the high growth trajectory. He said that under the visionary leadership of Mr. Modi country has scripted new success story in every field due to which India’s prestige has increased manifolds. Mr. Badal said that he had already congratulated the Prime Minister on his birthday. Earlier addressing the public gatherings during Sangat Darshan in village Khanpur, Lasai, Chaunda and others, the Chief Minister reminded the people about the notorious past of Congress. Mr. Badal said that Congress has irrelevantly meddled in the social, political, economic and even religious affairs of the state. He further bemoaned that the Congress has always pursued the policy of divide and rule to attain power in the state. Mr. Badal said that due to around 60 years of misrule of Congress the country was confronting several social maladies like unemployment, illiteracy, poverty and others.
Listing the major initiatives taken by the state government, the Chief Minister said that the alliance government has supplied free power to the farmers of the state at a cost of Rs 50000 crore in last ten years to bail them out from agrarian crisis. He further said that Punjab was the only state in the country to provide Atta-Dal scheme to the weaker sections adding that it was also the only state to ensure free treatment for fatal diseases like Cancer and Hepatitis C. Mr. Badal said that the state government has started first of its kind scheme to provide interest free crop loans worth Rs 50000 to the farmers. He further said that in another historic decision it has been decided that all the farmers would be provided a health insurance cover of Rs.50,000 and an insurance of Rs.5 lac in case of accidental death or incapacitation of head of family.The Chief Minister was accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP Mr. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, MLA Mr. Iqbal Singh Jhunda, his Joint Special Principal Secretary Mr. Kumar Amit, Deputy Commissioner Mr. Arshdeep Singh Thind and Senior Superintendent of Police Mr. PPS Thind.