Muktsar (Punjab), March 11 (IANS): The Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’ restarted on Monday after a short hiatus, with party President Sukhbir Badal giving a clarion call to Punjabis to repose faith in their own regional party in all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
The SAD President, who toured Gidderbaha and Muktsar Assembly constituencies in an open jeep accompanied by thousands of vehicles, said, “The mood of the people is before everyone to see. They have decided to oust the corrupt, anti-Sikh and anti-Punjabi AAP government and repose faith in SAD which has a proven track record of speedy development, peace and prosperity for all.”
Addressing the people at Kauni Village, Badal reminisced how he used to work as the election incharge of the village during former Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal’s election from Gidderbaha.
“Badal Sahib served this constituency for years. I assure you I will maintain the same relationship which Badal Sahib maintained with you,” he said.
In Muktsar, too, the SAD President said, “I have done election duty in this constituency along with Badal Sahib on numerous occasions. Most of you have Badal Sahib’s pictures in your homes. Now the time has come to again repose trust in your own party.”
Badal also led a frontal attack on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann stating, “You all have witnessed how the Chief Minister behaved in the Vidhan Sabha recently. He has befooled everyone in the name of change once. Don’t let it happen again.”
He said SAD had already exposed the falsehoods of the AAP, be it the betrayal of women who were yet to receive the allowance of Rs 1,000 per month for two years now, or the youth who were denied jobs despite tall promises.
Asserting that the Chief Minister and his boss, Arvind Kejriwal, were busy indulging in cheap publicity stunts, Badal said, “Punjab is suffering but Bhagwant Mann is busy hosting Kejriwal in Punjab by frittering away crores of public funds. This corrupt government has failed to do any development work or build a single infrastructure project in the last two years during the course of which it has bankrupted the state by borrowing an unprecedented Rs 66,000 crore.”