Bathinda (PB), Mar 18 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday asked the five AAP candidates who are slated to contest the Lok Sabha polls to resign from their ministries immediately in the interest of public welfare.
The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded five cabinet ministers – Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Laljit Singh Bhullar, and Dr Balbir Singh – for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held on June 1.
The Akali Dal president during his ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra,’ said, “The state cannot afford paralysis in governance due to the absence of these ministers from their offices for the next two and a half months.” He added, “Also as key ministries including Agriculture, Health and Transport are involved, the ministers Dr Balbir Singh, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Laljit Singh Bhullar should resign from their posts immediately.” Badal alleged that AAP was contesting five of its ministers because it was running low on confidence about its win.
“AAP knows that it has lost political ground in the state after betraying each and every section of society. Now it has fallen back on fielding ministers in a desperate gambit to intimidate voters to secure their votes,” he said.
Asking Punjabis not to be daunted by such tactics, Badal said, “people should ask these ministers what they have done to better the lot of the common man in the last two years.” He alleged that the agriculture minister failed to ensure compensation for damaged crops to farmers.
Similarly, the health minister was a party to the destruction of the rural health infrastructure by removing doctors and staff from the centres, he claimed.
Badal thanked the Punjabis for turning the party’s ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’ into a “storm.” “This storm is sweeping across Punjab and will result in uprooting AAP from Punjab. The SAD is on its way to sweeping the state by winning all 13 Lok Sabha seats,” he said.
The SAD leader also claimed that both the Congress and AAP “destroyed” Punjab and its economy in the last seven years.
“The Congress did not undertake a single infrastructure project during its five-year tenure. The current AAP government has bankrupted the state by taking on a debt of Rs one lakh crore, much of which has been spent on spreading the wings of the party in other states,” Badal said. PTI CHS VN VN
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