Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the inability of chief minister Bhagwant Mann to manage the home portfolio was resulting in dacoities of crores of rupees on an everyday basis.
Talking to Newmen here, the SAD president said “never has Punjab been wrecked by multi-crore dacoities and heists on an everyday basis as is occurring in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
“Dacoits and gangsters have become emboldened in the AAP raj to the detriment of the common man who was expecting real ‘badlav’ from this corrupt and deceitful government”.
Sukhbir Badal said all this was the result of the chief minister’s preoccupation with fulfilling the commands of his boss and AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal.
“The chief minister has been relegated to the role of a chaperone whose only responsibility was to command the State aircraft for the use of Kejriwal. Besides this, the AAP high command is making the Punjab chief minister use funds from the State exchequer to campaign for AAP nationwide”.
Asserting that the chief minister’s continued absence from the State, as well as his failure to take effective meetings to review the law and order situation, had led to the present role in the system, Badal said “it seems the AAP government has sublet law and order to dacoits and gangsters who are calling the shots in the absence of the Punjab law enforcement agencies”.
Answering a media query, Mr Badal said the AAP government was trying to deceive people by asserting that it was giving 300 units free power to them when it had taxed them the twice amount by repeatedly raising fuel prices to make petrol and diesel amongst the costliest in the region.
Asserting that “this government is adept at giving Rs one and taking back double the amount from the poor and disadvantaged sections of society, Mr badal said “several social welfare benefits including old age pension scheme, aata – daal scheme, Shagun scheme and SC Scholarship scheme have been severely pruned”.
He said “the AAP government has also put an end to free cycles for girls’ scheme, Teerath Yatra scheme, medical insurance scheme, free utensils scheme, gyms as well as Suvidha Kendras and Sewa Kendras. This only shows the duplicitous nature of this government which is taxing the people above and beyond the benefits extended to them”, he added.