CHANDIGARH: Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday hit out at his Delhi counterpart, Arvind Kejriwal, saying that he was exploiting the ongoing agitation of the farmers to further his party’s electoral agenda in Punjab with “blatant lies and brazenly false propaganda”.
It was the Kejriwal government that notified one of the “black farm laws” on 23 November, at a time when farmers were preparing to march to Delhi to protest these very farm laws, said Captain Amarinder. And now they’re indulging in theatrics by announcing that they’d be sitting on fast in support of the farmers’ hunger strike on Monday, he quipped.
“Do you have no shame? At a time when our farmers are braving the winter cold on the roads outside your city, and many of them are dying fighting for their rights, all you can think of is how to make the most of the opportunity to promote your political interests,” the Chief Minister said, targeting Kejriwal. “Instead of doing anything constructive to help the protesting farmers, who are sitting outside his city for the past 17 days to seek justice, you and your party are busy playing politics,” Captain Amarinder added.
Reacting to AAP’s Punjab president Bhagwant Mann’s statement, the Punjab CM said he should verify facts of the power purchase situation in the state before speaking. Captain said that he was just a comedian who nobody ever took seriously. The CM said that the Punjab government had neither signed any agreement with Adani Power nor was even aware of the private players bidding for power purchase in the state.
Pointing out that Punjab had been purchasing additional power to support farmers during the sowing season for years, the Chief Minister said it was obvious that Kejriwal and his party neither knew, nor cared about what goes into sowing or what the needs of the farmers are. All they are concerned about is taking advantage of the plight of the farmers for their vested political interests, he added.
From backstabbing the farmers by implementing one of the farm laws, to trying to dump them in a corner of Delhi, Kejriwal had proved time and again that he was no friend of the farmers, said Captain Amarinder. He added that the Delhi CM’s latest attempt to drive a wedge between the Punjab government and the farmers would not succeed with the tactics adopted by AAP to spread misinformation in the state.
Not only has the Punjab government supported the farmers through the past three months of their agitation, it has even passed amendment Bills in the Vidhan Sabha to nullify the farm laws, he pointed out, challenging Kejriwal to cite even one example of any welfare measure taken by his government for the farmers.
The Punjab CM said that having failed to garner the farmers’ support despite his theatrics in Delhi and patently false claims of house arrest, Kejriwal had now turned attention to Punjab with an eye on the 2022 Assembly elections, which AAP had no hopes of winning.