MANSA, March 5: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today regretted that the Akali-BJP government in the state had made the Governor to speak untruths in his address to the house by giving out figures which were blatant lies and far from the truth.
Addressing a mammoth public rally here today, the former Chief Minister said, it was so disgusting that the Akalis had made the Governor to speak untruths and give wrong information in the assembly without caring about the sanctity of the address and the house. He said, his party will explode all these untruths in the ongoing session that this government made the Governor to speak in his address to the house. “We will blast their myths one by one with facts and figures”, Capt Amarinder Singh said.
Lashing out at the Akalis, he asked them to think what will happen to them after a year when they will be voted out of power. He said, they were behaving worse than the authoritarian dictators as if they were going to rule forever. “Don’t forget if Hosni Mubarak can be kicked out, you stand nowhere”, he warned them, “while adding, I will neither forget nor forgive”.
The PCC President cautioned the Akalis that the tide had already turned against them and the massive groundswell of people at the rally was an indication of that. “Never forget that people’s power is supreme and if they can vote you in they can vote and kick you out and that is what they are going to do this time”, Capt Amarinder asserted amidst thundering cheers and applause from a crowd of about one lakh people.
Capt Amarinder also ridiculed the self proclaimed idealism of yet another Akali, although estranged, Manpreet Badal who, he said, was preaching one thing and practising other. He said, while Manpreet was himself opposing the subsidies, he had no qualms in grabbing these himself to the tune of Rs 19 lakhs.
Referring to the organising of a function by the party to mark the martyrdom of Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan on March 23, the PCC President said, the Congress is not organising the function for the first time. “We have been organising functions in memory of Shaheed Bhagat Singh right since independence and we will continue to do it irrespective of our political compulsions”, he remarked while having a dig at Manpreet and the Akalis who are trying to use the occasion to outscore and outnumber each other.
Referring to the prevalence of cancer in the area, particularly Mansa and Bathinda districts the PCC President said, the disease was no longer restricted to Malwa region but had spread all over the state. He asked the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal while he had spent about Rs 15 crores on the treatment of his wife in the United States, what he had done for hundreds of poor people who were suffering from similar disease and were not able to afford any treatment. “Have you given or ever thought of giving them even Rs 100”? he asked.
The former Chief Minister also called for transforming the agriculture and industry to improve economy and create employment opportunities for about 44 lakh educated unemployed youth of the state. He pointed out, like he had introduced BT cotton during his last tenure which transformed the economy of the area his government will ensure to do more innovation to earn more for farmers.
He regretted that the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had closed down two food processing projects set up during his tenure at Jallandhar and Abohar for the kinnow growing farmers. Capt Amarinder Singh pointed out, his government had set up a huge nursery for producing saplings. He revealed that while Mr Badal took saplings for his kinnow orchards from there, but closed it down later after coming to power to ensure that there was not too much of production as that could have hits his profits since he himself is a kinnow grower.
Addressing the rally the Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Bibi Rajinder Kaur Bhattal announced that once Congress comes to power in the state a super-speciality hospital will be set up in the area so that people do not need to go far off places for treatment.
Bibi Bhattal said, the countdown for the Akalis had begun no matter how desperately they try to stick to power as people had made up their mind to defeat and kick them out.
Prominent among those present on the occasion included Sher Singh Gaggowal, who was the organiser of the rally, Gurpeet Singh Kangar, PCC coordinator for the rally, Mr Lal Singh, Jeet Mohinder Sidhu, Arvind Khanna, Mangat Rai Bansal, Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, Gobind Khatra, Jaswant Singh and others.