Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that the national Vice President of the Congress party Rahul Gandhi was a ‘novice’ in public life and was hardly any match to the NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Talking to the media persons after inaugurating the Sub pisional Administrative Complex here today, the Chief Minister said that the country’s Prime Minister should be a learned personality with varied administrative and public experience adding that it was a fact that Mr. Gandhi was lacking both of them. Mr. Badal quipped that it was not possible for such a person to manage the huge responsibility of serving the nation on the topmost post. He said that on the other hand Mr. Modi has proved his mettle time and again as an able administrator by driving the state of Gujarat on the path of progress.Replying to another query, the Chief Minister said that the state government was looking into all the problems faced by the industrialists and traders, so as to find a viable solution for them. Answering another question, the Chief Minister said that the state government was duty bound to bring every person guilty of usurping the public land to the book adding that no one would be ever spared in such act, however influential he might be. Earlier addressing a mammoth gathering during the public rally, the Chief Minister said that neither national Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi nor her son Mr. Rahul Gandhi have any sympathy with the common man. He said that the country was facing the external and internal crisis just because both of these leaders were not even aware about the basic topography of the nation. Mr. Badal said that the ignorance of the top leadership of the Congress was proving to be a bane for the entire nation as the faulty policies of the UPA has accentuated the woes of the common man.
The Chief Minister said that due to the anti-farmer’s stance of the UPA government the Agriculture was no longer a profitable preposition. He said that the hard and resilient farmers of the state which had played a pivotal role in making the country self reliant in food production was today reeling under a huge debt. Mr. Badal further said that the exorbitant hike in the cost of agricultural inputs coupled with the non remunerative MSP has further broken the backbone of the peasantry due to which they were on crossroads. Squarely blaming the Congress for the social maladies faced by the country, the Chief Minister said that despite of bounty of natural resources our nation was today one of the least advanced countries of the world. He said that many other nations which got freedom along with India have marched rapidly on the path of progress but unfortunately due wrong policies of Congress, our country has lagged behind. Mr. Badal said that in their long rule the Congress party has completely ignored the Scheduled caste and other weaker sections of society and no effort had been ever made to improve their condition.
However, the Chief Minister said that their government has paid due attention to ensure the well being of the poor and disadvantaged sections of the society for special schemes have been started by them. He said that from December 1 more than 30 lakh beneficiaries would be given Atta at a rate of Re 1 per kilo under the Atta-Dal scheme by the state government. Likewise Mr. Badal said that special schemes like Mai Bhago Istri Vidya Scheme, Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Beema Yojna and others have been initiated by them to impart education and quality medical facilities to this important stratum of society.The Chief Minister further said that the coming three years would ensure complete facelift of the state as the Punjab government was making path breaking endeavors to usher in a new era of unprecedented development in the state. He said that it was a matter of merely few months after which the state would be only ‘Power Surplus’ state in the country after the commissioning of three thermal plants. Likewise Mr. Badal the complete rural network of the roads would be upgraded and strengthened at a cost of Rs 1700 crore besides initiating a number of projects to four lane and six lane all the major roads of the state.
Exhorting the people to form NDA government at the centre, the Chief Minister said that it would help in heralding a new era of unprecedented development in the state. He said that the formation of NDA government at centre would help the state government in getting more and more funds from the Union government to put Punjab on high growth trajectory. Mr. Badal said that it was decisive time for the residents of the state as they were on the verge of either marring or making the prospects of the state.
Earlier in his address the Revenue, Information & Public Relations Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia slammed the Congress led UPA government for plundering the tax payer’s money through the scams like CWG, Coalgate and others. He said that it was a record that no external force but the ‘Hand’ of Congress has ruined the country. Comparing the prices of essential commodities during the NDA regime and now UPA’s tenure, the Minister said that the sky rocketing prices of the basic goods have broken the back bone of the common man.
Equating the Union Ministers and MPs of Congress from the state to ‘Dumb Dolls’, the Minister said that these people have hardly minced any word against the step motherly treatment meted out to the state by the Union government. So Mr. Majithia said that in the coming general elections people must replace them with able leaders of SAD-BJP alliance, who could vehemently safeguard the interests of the country in Parliament. He said that the Congress has always pursued the policy of ‘pide and Rule’ in the country to fulfill its vested political interests adding that fed up from the wrong policies of the centre the countrymen would show a door to them. However Mr. Majithia said that the interests of the state would be safe only if the SAD-BJP alliance secures victory over all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state as then they would have important role in the NDA government to be constituted at centre.
Lashing out at state Congress President Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa, the Minister said that he has not only grabbed people’s land worth Rs 100 crore but has also looted the tax payer’s money evading Income Tax and stamp duty on it. He said that the Congress leaders have always misused their position to illegally mint the public money. “These leaders will have to pay the price of their misdeeds as the wise voters of Punjab will not forgive them at any cost”, added Mr. Majithia.Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included Cabinet Minister Mr. Ajit Singh Kohar and Mr. Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mr. Pawan Teenu, MLA Mr. Pargat Singh, Special Principal Secretary of the Chief Minister Mr. Gurkirat Kirpal Singh and Deputy Commissioner Mr. Varun Roojam.