Union Home Minister Amit Shah on June 18 hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, accusing Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of going around the country with party supremo Arvind Kejriwal at the cost of the State’s interest, resulting in deteriorating law and order.
He was addressing a gathering in Punjab’s Gurdaspur during the party’s outreach campaign to mark the completion of nine years of the BJP government at the Centre.
“I have not seen a government that made empty promises like the one led by the AAP. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has no concern for the people of his State. Mr. Mann has only one job, he keeps moving with Kejriwal to other States in the country. If Kejriwal is to go to Chennai, then Mr. Mann takes the aircraft to Delhi to take him [Mr. Kejriwal] to Chennai, if Kejriwal has to go to Kolkata then he takes him to Kolkata. At times I wonder if Mr. Mann is a Chief Minister or a pilot,” said Mr. Shah.
Expressing concern over Punjab’s law and order, the Union Minister said that as Mr. Mann’s time was consumed in travelling and conducting Mr. Kejriwal’s countrywide tours, the situation of law and order had gone from bad to worse.
Drug menace
Hitting out at the AAP government, Mr. Shah said that Punjab was facing a drug menace and witnessing atrocities against Dalits, adding that police cases were being registered against the farmers, labourers, teachers, and unemployed people who were raising their voices against the Punjab government.
Accusing the AAP government of not fulfilling its election promises, Mr. Shah said “I have come to ask Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal that our mothers and sisters are waiting for a monthly allowance of ₹1,000, where is that allowance?… not even 1,000 paise has been transferred into their accounts,” he said.
He alleged that Punjab’s money was being spent for the promotion of the AAP all over the country, which was emptying the State’s treasury.
Pat for Haryana CM
In Haryana’s Sirsa, addressing a gathering, Mr. Shah patted Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for “giving corruption-free governance” to the people in the State.
The Union Home Minister said that people should not forget India before 2014 when scams and corruption worth ₹12 lakh crores were committed by the Congress. Contrary to this, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, transparent governance had been made available to the people in the last nine years.
He said that from 2004 to 2014, when the Congress was in power in the Centre as well as in the State only ₹40,000 crore was given to Haryana as devolution and grant-in-aid, while Mr. Modi has increased this to ₹1.30 lakh crore.
