Kejriwal's lieutenants ruling Punjab by proxy: Akali Dal chief

Chandigarh, Dec 30 (IANS) Saying Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's lieutenants, including Raghav Chadha, are ruling Punjab by proxy, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday expressed shock over Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's claim that Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) model on law and order was now number one in the country.

"It is shameful that an elected Chief Minister is out rightly lying on such a sensitive issue at a time when Punjabis are plagued by the law of jungle and breakdown of communal relations," Badal told IANS.

Expressing anguish at the cheap self publicity unleashed by the AAP government to project itself as the number one state on the law and order front, the SAD President said, "Punjabis expected Bhagwant Mann to apologise for failing them on this front and resign as Home Minister.

"It is despicable that he is now teaming up with AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to showcase maintenance of law and order as an achievement of his government when he created a state of lawlessness. This is an insult to Punjab and Punjabis," he said while calling it the worst year for Punjab on the administrative front.

Telling the Chief Minister that unlike him, Punjabis were not suffering from amnesia, Badal said right after formation of the AAP government the state witnessed a spate of killings of prominent kabaddi players, including Nangal Ambian.

Punjab also witnessed the gruesome murder of iconic singer Sidhu Moosewala after the AAP government withdrew his security and publicised this fact. There was a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) attack first on the Intelligence Headquarters of the Punjab Police in Mohali and later at a police station in Sarhali.

The state also witnessed communal tensions after decades in the Kali Mandir clashes in Patiala. Gangsters continued to strike at will with one of Moosewala's killers Deepak Tinu even escaping from police custody. The common man was afflicted by snatchings and robberies even as traders and industrialists were targeted and killed for failing to pay ransoms to gangsters.

Asking the Chief Minister to tell Punjabis if all this was an achievement of his government, Badal said, "We are witnessing flight of industry from the state due to this even as no fresh investment is coming in. Rising unemployment is sounding a death knell for the future generation even as society is plagued with rising drug menace in the AAP dispensation."

Telling Mann to ask the Aam Aadmi about his performance instead of bragging about it with advertisements worth crores on a daily basis, Badal said: "The truth is that you have not only presided over the complete breakdown of law and order but also brought financial ruin to Punjab."

He said the total borrowings of the state had crossed Rs 39,000 crore in the last nine months even as the state debt had reached Rs 3 lakh crore.

"Despite such heavy borrowings you don't have one development or infrastructure project to your credit even as GST collections as well as stamp duty are down."

Asserting that Rs 750 crore had been earmarked for self publicity, including publicity of AAP in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, the SAD President said: "Even as this is happening the government has backed out from all promises made to Punjabis be jobs for unemployed youth, regularising all contractual employees or giving Rs 1,000 per month to women."

Asserting that the root of the problem lay in the manner in which Mann has succumbed to Arvind Kejriwal and handed over all powers to the latter in the name of a fake knowledge sharing agreement, Badal said: "Kejriwal's lieutenants, including Raghav Chadha, are ruling Punjab by proxy."

Badal said "never in the history of the state has an elected government forsaken its people in this manner. People are insecure about their lives and livelihoods. The atmosphere of peace and communal harmony painstakingly stitched together by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has been torn asunder. Punjabis feel betrayed in the name of 'badlav'. The situation is becoming so uncontrollable that there is real danger of Punjab slipping back into an era of darkness".

"A model has truly been achieved -- but it is that of lawlessness, not of law and order," the former Deputy Chief Minister added.