Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann campaigned for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Bathinda candidate Gurmeet Singh Khuddian. He addressed a huge public rally in Budhlada and appealed to the people to make the Aam Aadmi Party win.
Addressing the people, Bhagwant Mann said that my connection with Budhlada goes way back. I used to bring cotton crops to the market to sell here. Even now I know many of the people here by name whom I used to meet at that time.
Before the rally, the leaders of the Ex Servicemen Organization honoured the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and shared their problems with him. Mann assured them that I myself am the son of a government employee. Therefore, I can understand your problems. I will solve all your issues soon.
On the issue of Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the Chief Minister attacked the Central Government and alleged that the Central Government has withheld 20 thousand crores of Punjab’s OPS fund. Vijay Mallya fled abroad by taking a loan from the bank in which that fund was kept. He said that on June 4, the All India Alliance government is going to be formed at the Center, then we will bring that money and implement the old pension scheme.
He said that I gave government jobs to 43,000 youth of Punjab without any discrimination.
He said that in Karandi, a village in Sardulgarh, 40 people got jobs. Now people in the villages have started comparing the number of jobs with other villages and say that we have done in two years than what was done in 70 years.
He said that after getting government jobs, many youth of Punjab cancelled their plans of going abroad and many returned. He told the story of a girl who became SDO in the electricity department, the girl was going to go to Canada, for which her family had also arranged money, but a few days before going she got the joining letter, then she cancelled her plan of going abroad.
He said that in the matter of job I do not even listen to the recommendations of my MLAs and ministers. Once one of my MLAs recommended that I give a job to his close relative, I immediately refused him and warned him not to make such a recommendation in future.
He said that I do not tolerate corruption. After forming the government, we issued a number for people to complain about corruption. Based on the complaints received on that number, we took action against more than 850 corrupt employees and sent them to jail. Once we caught three employees of the registry office taking a bribe, then we investigated that matter and issued an order that the words on the registry paper should be written in easy Punjabi language so that any common man and farmer can read it.
He said that for the convenience of the common people, I made electricity free and arranged for sufficient electricity for the farmers without any power cuts during the day, so that their time and energy is not wasted. He said that for the first time in the history of the country, our government bought a private thermal power plant. This will increase the production of electricity significantly and electricity will also be cheaper.
During the speech, Mann attacked Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal and the Badal family. He said that she even embezzled money while exchanging dupattas with the women.
She took the dupattas worth Rs 200 each and gave the dupatta worth Rs 50 to the women in exchange. He said that Harsimrat Kaur Badal does not even know how to speak Punjabi properly.
Attacking Sukhbir Badal, he said that Sukh Vilas Hotel was built with the blood and sweat of the people of Punjab. There is a pool behind every room of that hotel. He said that we will take Sukh Vilas under the control of the Punjab Government and convert it into a school. It will be the first school with pools attached to every classroom.
Badal family never cared about the people of Punjab, nor raised any issue of Punjab with the Center, they only made their family members MLA, MP and Minister – Gurmeet Khuddian
While addressing the people, AAP candidate Gurmeet Singh Khuddian attacked the Badal family and said that they never cared about the people of Punjab. They only made their family members MLAs, MPs and ministers. He said that while being a minister in the central government, Harsimrat Kaur Badal never raised the issue of farmers and water crisis in Punjab, on the contrary, she gave her consent and signed the black agricultural laws of the Modi government.