DW BUREAU / Sahnewal/ Payal

Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia today said Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann was mixed up with both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and could not be trusted to safeguard the interests of the State.

The SAD leader, while campaigning in the Sahnewal and Payal legs of the Punjab Bachao Yatra along with former minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and Manjit Singh Madnipur, said the chief minister was fond of referring to himself as "Kattar Imaandaar" and "Kattar Deshbhakt" but the truth was that he was a Kattar Opportunist who had aligned with both the Congress and the BJP. "While Mr Bhagwant Mann is in an open alliance with the Congress as part of the India alliance and even campaigned for Congress candidate Ashok Arora in Haryana, he is secretly aligned with the BJP also".

Asking Punjabis as to how AAP could fight against the Congress in Punjab when chief minister Bhagwant Mann was sharing stages with the top Congress leaders and even campaigning for the Congress in Haryana, Mr Bikram Majithia said "a vote for AAP is a vote for the Congress and vice versa". He appealed to Punjabis to boycott both parties, saying "both parties have now entered into an unholy alliance to befool you". He also pointed out how both the erstwhile Congress and ongoing AAP governments had betrayed Punjabis. "While the Congress promised to waive off loans and give 'ghar ghar naukari' but did nothing, AAP promised to wipe out the menace of drugs but has presided over the expansion of drug trade in the State ''.

Speaking about the chief minister's secret alliance with the BJP, Mr Majithia said "Mr Bhagwant Mann has prostrated himself before the BJP to save his chair as he knows that the liquor scam which occurred in Delhi and for which Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested, was duplicated in Punjab. The chief minister realizes that like his Delhi counterpart he can also be arrested at any time. This is why he refused to take action against the Haryana police after youth farmer Shubhkaran Singh was murdered and Pritpal Singh was severely injured due to police actions from across the border during the ongoing farmer agitation".

Mr Majithia also appealed to Punjabis to support the SAD wholeheartedly and give a decisive mandate in favour of the State's only regional party. He said the SAD was not only known for speedy development and creation of infrastructure projects like thermal plants, four lane roads and airports, but had also introduced novel social welfare schemes like aata-daal, old age pension and shagun scheme. He also asserted that peace and communal harmony had been the cornerstone of all SAD governments.

The Punjab Bachao Yatra witnessed an enthusiastic response from all sections of people. "Shop keepers came out to welcome the Yatra at various stops even as hundreds of youth travelled with the Yatra which was also accompanied by a huge number of tractors and motor cycles.
(editor@dailyworld.in)