Chandigarh, Dec 1 (PTI) Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday accused former chief minister and BJP leader Amarinder Singh and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal of ruining the state when they were in power.
Cheema said these two leaders, “rejected by people, are once again dreaming of returning to power” but Punjab will no longer tolerate “the politics of loot dominated by these two families”.
The AAP leader’s remarks came after Amarinder Singh, during an interview to a media organisation, advocated a pre-poll alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
Punjab is set for assembly elections in 2027.
“Captain Saab (Amarinder Singh) is saying that the BJP should tie up with Akali Dal. It shows that they are hand in glove, that they want to capture power. The friendship between these two families (Amarinder Singh’s and the Badals) has been exposed,” Cheema said.
The finance minister alleged that between 2002 and 2022, Amarinder Singh and the Badal family “systematically enriched themselves and protected each other from legal action.” During 2002-07, when Amarinder Singh was the chief minister, prosecution in a disproportionate assets case against the Badals was deliberately delayed, he said, adding, “It was a deep-rooted, reciprocal agreement between the Badals and the Captain.” Pointing to Amarinder Singh’s journey from the Akali Dal to Congress, then forming his own party, and ultimately joining the BJP, Cheema said he is a “master of defection.” Cheema reiterated AAP’s long-held assertion that during his 2017 term, Amarinder Singh acted more as a chief minister of the BJP than that of the Congress.
Highlighting AAP government’s achievements, Cheema said it cancelled the expensive power purchase agreement signed by the previous SAD-BJP regime, bought back a private power plant, gave 600 units of free electricity to the public, and provided over 50,000 government jobs.
Reacting to Amarinder Singh’s statement, Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said that he agreed with Captain Saab that the BJP on its own did not have any future in Punjab.
“The BJP does not have any future at all in Punjab as it has completely alienated and antagonised Punjabis with its anti-Punjab policies. It can never form a government in Punjab, with or without the Akalis,” Warring said.
He said both the BJP and the SAD have already been wiped out of Punjab and they had no scope of revival.
“But one thing I must appreciate about Captain Sahab is that he has become wiser and shown the mirror to his own party,” Warring said, adding, “Even if the Akalis and the BJP ally, they will not make any difference. Zero plus zero is always a zero,” Warring said. PTI CHS RUK RUK
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