Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the ‘gunda raj’ of the Congress party would end in four days and that Punjabis were gearing up to install a pro-farmer and pro-poor alliance government of the SAD-BSP combine which was committed to taking everyone along in the path of peace and prosperity.Addressing large gatherings in favour of party candidates Parkash Chand Garg at Dhuri, Mr Kulwant Singh Keetu in Barnala and Kabir Das in Nabha, the SAD president said rather than giving anything to Punjabis, the Congress government had snatched all the facilities they were availing since the time of the erstwhile SAD led government of S Parkash Singh Badal.
Sukhbir Badal said the Congress party could not be trusted to keep any promise made to Punjabis because it had not implemented any of the promises made by Capt Amarinder Singh in 2017. “The Congress party promised a complete loan waiver to farmers, jobs in each household, Rs 2,500 unemployment allowance and increase in the old age pension. It did not keep any of these promises”.Mr Badal said forget implementing promises made to people, even ongoing benefits were scaled down or scrapped altogether. He said the Congress government had scrapped lakhs of blue cards which entitled the poor to subsidized ration. He said the government had even scrapped the CM Teerath Yatra scheme, closed down Sewa Kendras, stopped installation of open gyms and distribution of sports kits besides doing away with the World Kabaddi Cup”.
Speaking about chief minister Charanjit Channi, the SAD president said the former was actually against the scheduled caste community. He said despite being a cabinet minister for nearly five years, Channi never questioned the injustice done to scheduled caste students whose scholarship funds were embezzled by a colleague – Sadhu Singh Dharamsot. He said Channi never spoke up for restoration of blue cards which had been deleted by his government.Mr Badal also urged the people not to expect any justice from the Congress party. He said the Congress was responsible for attacking the Sri Darbar Sahib with tanks and mortars. “The Gandhi family also gave the orders for the massacre of thousands of Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of the country. How can you trust such a family and party to do justice with your State?” he asked.
Mr Badal said the SAD had always fulfilled all commitments made to Punjabis be it providing free power to the farm sector or making power surplus. He said the Badal SAD-BSP alliance was committed to increase the old age pension from Rs 1,500 per month to Rs 3,100 per month. Mr Badal said similarly the shagun benefit would be increased to Rs 75,000 per beneficiary. He also announced that the alliance government would give Rs 2,000 per month to women heads of below poverty line families, Rs ten lakh student card for higher studies, Rs 10 lakh medical insurance, create one lakh government jobs and ten lakh private jobs, distribute five lakh houses free of cost to the poor and needy as well as give 5,000 five marla plots to the poor in each constituency of the State. He also announced the price of diesel for agriculture use would be lowered by Rs 10 per liter once the SAD-BSP government was formed. He also announced that the alliance government would focus on health and education and that mega schools would be constructed at the block level to provide quality education and that a big hospital would be established in each constituency besides a medical college in each district. EOM