BATHINDA:Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today demanded all five Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ministers who had been earmarked to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections resign from their ministries immediately in the interest of public welfare.
The SAD president, who received a phenomenal reception in both Bhucho Mandi and Bathinda Urban assembly constituencies as part of the party’s Punjab Bachao Yatra, said “the State cannot afford paralysis in governance due to the absence of these ministers from their offices for the next two and a half months. Also as key ministries including Agriculture, Health and Transport are involved the ministers – Dr Balbir Singh, Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Laljit Singh Bhullar should resign from their posts immediately”.
Speaking about the AAP’s decision to field five ministers, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “AAP knows that it has lost political ground in the State after betraying each and every section of society. Now it has fallen back on fielding ministers in a desperate gambit to intimidate voters to secure their votes”. Asking Punjabis not to be daunted by such tactics, Mr Badal said “people should ask these ministers what they have done to better the lot of the common man in the last two years”. He said all the ministers had failed in their duty citing how the Agriculture minister had failed to ensure compensation for damaged crops to farmers. He said similarly the health minister was party to destruction of the rural health infrastructure by removing doctors and staff from the centres.
Speaking about the Punjab Bachao Yatra, Mr Badal thanked Punjabis for turning it into a storm. “This storm is sweeping across Punjab and will result in uprooting AAP from Punjab. The SAD is on its way to sweeping the State by winning all 13 Lok Sabha seats”. He also detailed how both the Congress and AAP had destroyed Punjab and its economy during the last seven years. “The Congress did not undertake a single infrastructure project during its five year tenure.
The current AAP government has bankrupted the State by taking on a debt of Rs one lakh crore, much of which has been spent on spreading the wings of the party in other States”.
Stating that the SAD represented the aspirations of Punjabis and had always worked to fulfill them, Mr Badal said “former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal held Sangat Darshan programmes at your doorsteps to ensure your grievances were resolved on the spot. Biba Harsimrat Kaur has done yeoman service in the area and brought the prestigious AIIMS institute to Bathinda besides a Central University in the area. “You have witnessed how Bathinda and the entire parliamentary constituency was transformed into a model constituency during SAD tenure with world class roads, bridges and other infrastructure coming up in the constituency. It is a shame that all development work has been stopped during the last seven years. Let us now unite to bring back to era of development by voting out AAP first in the Lok Sabha and then in the assembly elections”, the SAD president added.
The SAD president was accompanied by Bhucho Mandi constituency incharge Mann Singh Guru, Bathinda Urban constituency incharge Babli Dhillon, Istri Akali Dal president Bibi Hargobind Kaur, district president Balkar Singh Brar, district urban president Rajwinder Singh, district youth president Kamaldeep Singh , Hasrat Middukhera and party general secretary Mohit Gupta.