Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday announced that he would undertake a hundred-day yatra across hundred constituencies starting from Wednesday from Zira, saying that he would expose the corrupt and scam ridden Congress government as well as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Addressing a press conference here to launch the party campaign ‘Gall Punjab Di’, the SAD President said he would hold seven hundred public meetings and address every section of society during his hundred-day yatra during which SAD workers would go to every village and ward in the State.
He said the purpose of this exercise was two-fold— to bring the corruption done by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s government as well as his council of ministers before the people, as well as to collect feedback from them as to what they expected from the next SAD-BSP government.
He also released a missed call number service to invite Punjabis to join the party’s campaign as well as share their aspirations with the party. A website www.GallPunjabDi.in was also launched on the occasion.
He said while chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had a lot to answer vis a vis the Rs 6,500 crore excise scam, five of his ministerial colleagues were accused of indulging in corruption. Taking the chief minister head-on, Badal said Capt Amarinder Singh had destroyed Punjab in the last four and a half years.
He said Punjab had the misfortune of having a chief minister who did not come out of his home, did not meet even his own ministers, did not listen to the people and even teachers seeking to meet him were thrashed brutally. He said the only work the Capt Amarinder Singh government had done was to loot the State treasury.
Stating that the SAD alone represented the regional aspirations of Punjabis who had been betrayed by both the Congress and AAP, Badal said in the State unit received its orders from the Gandhi family which had a history of being anti-Punjab. Speaking about Arvind Kejriwal, Badal said the AAP Convener wanted to implement a failed Delhi model in Punjab.
He said Kejriwal was a master of deceit. “He is known to have taken opposite stands on the SYL issue in Punjab and outside the State. He has also taken an anti-Punjab stand on the issue of stubble burning besides filing a petition in the apex court demanding the closure of thermal plants of Punjab,” Sukhbir added.