Confident of winning the Punjab Assembly election by a huge margin, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday stated that a leader from the stated will become the new Chief Minister after party wins the 2017 polls.
Addressing a political conference, AAP’s Punjab affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh said, “AAP will win over 100 seats in the coming Assembly election in the state and a leader from Punjab will be the chief minister.”
He accused the ruling Badal family in Punjab of “blatantly using the government machinery to register false cases against AAP leaders and volunteers”.
“After the grand success of AAP’s Baghapurana rally, the Akalis have become desperate and their attacks on AAP workers have increased,” Singh alleged.
He said after AAP forms the government in the state, all the “false cases” against its leaders and volunteers will be withdrawn and the Badals, along with Punjab ministers Bikram Majithia and Tota Singh, will be put behind the bars.
Singh accused the other political parties of pursuing ‘pariwarvad’ (family rule) in the country and claimed that AAP, under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, was committed to “wiping out” this practice from the Indian polity.
He accused the Badals of “rampant corruption and patronising the drug mafia, land mafia, transport mafia, sand and gravel mafia, cable mafia etc.”, saying the SAD-BJP government has “ruined” the state.
He also attacked the fourth front, recently launched by cricketer-turned-politician and former BJP MP Navjot Sidhu, saying that it would not get any support from the people as the votes cast in its favour will help the “corrupt” Badals.
Addressing the gathering, AAP leader HS Phoolka accused the Badals of making “false claims” of “being the saviour of the Sikh religion” and alleged that they had done “nothing” for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and regarding the attack on Golden Temple, saying he had fought a legal battle for 25 years to get the culprits to book.
AAP co-in charge of Punjab affairs Jarnail Singh alleged that the Badals had been exploiting the “religious” sentiments of the people for “political gains” but in reality, they had completely “damaged” the sanctity of religious institutions, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
Describing the “desecration” of Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib during the SAD rule as “extremely shameful”, he alleged that instead of nabbing the culprits, Badals’ police “killed” two Sikh youths and till date, no police officer has been booked for resorting to firing on “peaceful protesters”.
(With PTI inputs)
