The Aam The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has warned the ruling Congress Party in the state that if the Captain Government failed to cancel the anti-people Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) inked by the erstwhile Badal government with private power companies, during the upcoming Budget Session, the AAP would take the people of the state along with to cut off the power connection of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh's Patiala Royal abode 'Moti Mahal'.The decision was taken during a meeting of the party MLAs in Chandigarh, ahead of the Budget Session, on Friday. The meeting, chaired by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Harpal Singh Cheema, was attended by, among others, Core Committee chairman, Principal Budh Ram, Deputy Leader of Opposition, Sarabjit Kaur Manuke, Aman Arora, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Prof. Baljinder Kaur, Rupinder Kaur Ruby, Meet Hayer, Manjit Singh Bilaspur, Kulwant Singh Pandori, Master Baldev Singh (All MLAs), Vidhan Sabha Office Secretary and State Media Head Manjit Singh Sidhu, along with core committee member and state treasurer Sukhwinder Sukhi, Gerry Barring and political review committee chairman Harchand Singh Barsat.Before addressing media persons after the meeting, Harpal Singh Cheema, paid rich tributes to the Pulwama martyrs of by observing two-minute silence. Cheema said the remarkable victory of Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi assembly polls was clearly visible not only in Punjab but across the country and abroad, for it was a vote for ‘performance’ agenda against the communal and divisive forces hell bent on destroying the social fabric of the country. The stupendous Delhi victory had shown thumbs down to the fascist forces spitting fire during the electioneering and decimated the Congress Party to zero, which would be replicated in Punjab as well, Cheema said.Cheema said that the Badals, accused of being hand in glove with the mafia raj and the desecration incidents in the state too had been isolated by their long time ally - the BJP.
Cheema asserted that the Kejriwal's development model on which the elections in Delhi were fought and won would be replicated in Punjab when it went to the polls in 2022.Cheema further added that if the government did not provide relief to the people from the expensive electricity, the AAP would be forced to cut the electricity connection of Captain Amarinder Singh’s royal abode Moti Mahal, to be followed by cutting electricity connections at the residences of Congress ministers, MLAs and MPs.On this occasion, Aman Arora, in his address, on behalf of the state party President Bhagwant Mann and all the MLAs, and other leaders of Punjab, congratulated and thanked a large number of volunteers, who worked very hard day and night which resulted in a landslide victory in Delhi.He said that the coming Budget Session would be a litmus test not only for the Chief Minister but also for the Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who had announced in his first budget session address to bring the beleaguered economy in Punjab back on the track three years after assuming power in 2017. Accusing both of them for the fiscal mess in the state, Arora said the debt that the state had on its head to the tune a whopping Rs 13,000 crore per year during the reign of the Badals, which had gone up to Rs 16000 crore in their tenure of over three years. The AAP leader said that during the coming Budget Session, the party would flag the issue of costly electricity and nixing of PPAs in the Budget Session and bringing a resolution on various issues, including stray cattle, liquor corporation through a private member bill in the House. He appealed to the people of Punjab, the farmers' unions and every citizen to press their respective legislators hard to support the resolution on the menace of stray cattle the floor of the House.Speaking on the occasion, Principal Budh Ram said that a meeting of the core committee of the party would be held on February 20 at which certain key decisions were likely to be taken unanimously.Others who were present on the occasion were party spokespersons Govinder Mittal, Satbir Walia, Kuljinder Dhindsa, Jaspal Singh Talwandi, Gurmel Singh Sidhu, Prabhjot Kaur and other prominent figures.