Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ministers today said Pradesh Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa had become agitated and scared of the ‘sangat darshan’ programmes being held by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal as his so called mass contact programme had flopped while people were flocking in droves to the people friendly programmes of the CM.
In a joint statement here, Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon and Public Works minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon said Punjabis had rejected the Pradesh Congress President completely as had been proven in the PCC chief’s so called mass contact programme which was now universally being hailed as a “no show” programme all over the State.Sekhon and Dhillon said it was because of this reason that Bajwa was trying to pert attention from his failures and was now even trying to put hurdles in the resolution of people’s problems for the sake of cheap publicity.
The ministers said they understood the plight of the PCC chief. “It is difficult for someone who refused to meet people, even in the comfort of his home let alone to go their doorsteps, as a minister during the erstwhile Congress regime to digest the popularity of the sangat darshan programmes”, they said. They advised Bajwa to inculcate the habit of going to the people and listening to their problems rather than spending his time making statements aimed at hiding his own weaknesses.
Sekhon and Dhillon made it clear that the Sangat Darshan programmes were there to stay. “Badal sahib is a man of the people, lives among the people and he will continue to go out to meet the people”, they said adding “Badal sahib unlike Bajwa is not afraid of the heat and humidity and does not want to limit his programmes to two minute lectures like the PCC chief is wont to do”.
Explaining the concept of the ‘sangat darshan’ programme, the ministers said it was organized to allow easy interface between the top State leadership and the people and afforded a chance to the latter to get their problems resolved immediately. They said people also benefitted as the government came to their doorstep rather than the other way around. “Bajwa sahib does not understand this concept as he was even reluctant to sit at home in his palatial house and receive the people as a mini raja during his stint at PWD minister”, they said.
Sekhon and Dhillon said this negative anti people streak of the Congress had already cost it nationwide and the party was a shadow of its former self with its government in place in only a handful of States in the country. “The Congress led UPA government is already suffering from a disconnect with the people and Bajwa is set to fast track this disconnect further with his anti-people statements”. They said the people would teach Bajwa and the UPA government a lesson they would not forget in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.