Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the “nexus of gangsters” would be soon wiped out from Punjab.
Mr. Kejriwal was speaking in Jalandhar after the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and he jointly flagged off a bus service to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi from the city.
Hitting out at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress party, Mr. Kejriwal blamed them for “nurturing gangster culture” by openly patronising criminals in Punjab. He added that after the formation of the AAP government, political patronage of these gangsters has ended and they will soon be put behind bars.
Mr. Kejriwal said that the “mafia” was being dealt with an iron hand in Punjab as the State government had zero tolerance towards it. He alleged that the previous government in the State had been patronising anti-social elements, but the AAP government in Punjab would not spare anyone guilty of crimes. The Delhi CM added that the “nexus of gangsters” would be wiped out soon from the State. He said that special efforts were being made to ensure discipline amongst the inmates of jails. He also attacked “VIP treatment” inside jail premises.
The killing in broad daylight of Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, known as Sidhu Moosewala, in May, highlighted the problem of gangster-related crimes in Punjab, which have become increasingly bloody and frequent over time, putting the AAP government on the back foot with the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the State.
The Delhi Chief Minister said that it was a significant day for Punjab as the Volvo buses began departing for IGI Airport. He said that the facility would be smoother and more beneficial, especially for the Punjabi diaspora. He said that the AAP‘s Government was an honest one, and it has been working in a transparent manner, thus paving the way for the implementation of pro-people initiatives.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said by starting the bus service to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, New Delhi the Punjab government has fulfilled its promise to the people by ending the monopoly of the private transporters.
Mr. Mann said that his government has the mandate of people to serve the State by eliminating the “mafia”. “With the rolling of these buses now, transport mafia will also be a thing of the past,” he said, adding that for decades, only private transporters had run their buses on this route and “looted the people by charging impulsively”. Blaming the successive Congress and SAD governments for not plying government buses to the airport, he alleged that the vested interests of these leaders prohibited them from doing so.
The Congress party took a dig at the AAP on the plying of buses. Congress State president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that Mr. Kejriwal did not allow the Punjab State transport buses to ply up to the airport in Delhi when the Congress was in power in Punjab. “Why didn’t you give this permission to our buses earlier? Were Punjabis punished for your credit-hogging agenda? Why did you remain negatively adamant and evasive when I, as Transport Minister, urged for the sake of Punjab to cooperate?” Mr. Warring asked.
