Launching his party's campaign in Punjab for the upcoming general elections on March 11, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of trying to topple the Bhagwant Mann government by approaching its MLAs. He asked people to ensure his party's victory in all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab to raise their voices in Parliament.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a constituent of the India bloc, is fighting the Lok Sabha elections alone in Punjab.
At the event, the AAP also rolled out a slogan highlighting the leadership of Chief Minister Mann and saying that the party's presence in Parliament too would add to the respect Punjab enjoys.
Seeking victory for AAP on all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the State, he said, "We do not need these seats for ourselves. (These are) to work more for your family and to make your family more prosperous. To make Punjab 'Rangla', we need 13 seats," the Delhi Chief Minister added.
"If you send AAP's 13 (candidates) as MPs, they will raise your voice in Lok Sabha. If your work is stopped like the rural development fund is withheld, they will go to the residence of that minister concerned and will not budge till the funds are released. An MP can go to the residence of any minister."
Strengthing presence in the Parliament
Apart from 13 MPs from Punjab, four will come from Delhi and one from Kurukshetra in Haryana, the AAP national convener said, adding, "We are winning in Gujarat and Assam."
"Then we will have 20 MPs in Lok Sabha and 10 (currently) in Rajya Sabha. If we have 30 MPs, they will become our strength in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha," Mr. Kejriwal said.
The AAP and the Congress have sealed a seat-sharing deal for Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana but decided to contest separately in Punjab considering the "special circumstances" in the State. The AAP has already announced three candidates for Assam.
Allegations against the BJP
Addressing the event, Mr. Kejriwal slammed the Centre for allegedly withholding ₹8,000 crore of Punjab's funds and accused the BJP of trying to topple the AAP government in Punjab by approaching its MLAs. "The Centre has withheld ₹8,000 crore of Punjab's funds. It is a lot of money. How many schools, hospitals, mohalla clinics could have come up with that fund?" he posed.
He hit out at the Centre for rejecting Punjab's tableau at the Republic Day parade. "How could they reject it?"
"Now they approach MLAs every day in Punjab to topple the state government. They want to topple the government of the people of Punjab," he claimed.
He also accused the Centre and Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit of harassing Chief Minister Mann every day. "Only Bhagwant Mann is fighting for you. He is fighting against the Centre, the BJP and the Governor. If you give him 13 seats, it will become his 13 hands and will fight against the BJP in Delhi. They will raise your voice in Lok Sabha," said the Delhi CM.
Mr. Kejriwal said there was a time when there was negativity all around in Punjab and there was a law and order problem. “Electricity bills were going up, there were electricity outages, farmers and traders were upset,” he said, “Today, there is positivity all around. Industrialists are returning, they want to open industries here. Youths are getting jobs, Mohalla clinics are coming up,” but added that there was a lot is yet to be done.” “Elections are coming. There are 13 seats in Punjab and we need all these seats,” the AAP national convener added.
