AAP fallen back on compromised CM candidate: Sukhbir Badal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 Jan, 2022 12:36 PM
Chandigarh, Jan 18 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had fallen back on compromised candidate Bhagwant Mann as no one was ready to lead the party in Punjab.
Terming the nomination of Mann as a stage managed non-event, the SAD President said AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal never wanted to make Mann the face of the party in Punjab.
"He has been saying so at Mann's face while asserting that the party was looking for a capable candidate. It is also a fact that AAP sounded off a number of prospective candidates but each and every one of them refused to lead the party. This is why the responsibility has been thrust on Bhagwant after a make belief survey," he said in a statement.
Asserting that making Mann the face of the party reflected the complete bankruptcy of AAP, Sukhbir Badal said: "A desperate public relation exercise is underway to wash away Mann's omissions and commissions and project him as a leader who can take on the mantle of chief minister even though his wayward and irresponsible conduct is well known to each and everyone."
He also asked Kejriwal to tell Punjabis whom they should repose their trust in now.
"AAP has led a very public campaign urging Punjabis to repose their trust in Kejriwal since more than one year. During this same period Kejriwal has asserted that Mann is not capable of holding this post.
"Now when AAP has exhausted all options and chosen Mann to lead the party in Punjab, it needs to explain why Punjabis should trust a leader who Kejriwal refused to endorse for more than one year. Kejriwal cannot take Punjabis to be so naive as to approve his rubber stamped candidate.
"They need strong and decisive leadership as well a leader with a proven track record of conducting swift development as well as ensuring law and order and peace and communal harmony in this border state. Mann does not fit this bill," Sukhbir Badal added.
The Punjab government on Friday ordered a probe into former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's relations with his Pakistani woman friend Aroosa Alam and her relation with the ISI. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa said the government would probe the ISI links of Aroosa Alam.
Raising the demand at a meeting with Union Health and Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Mansukh L. Mandaviya, Badal said it is equally important to diversify Punjab's economy as well as its agriculture.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the farmers' group, submitted before a bench headed by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul that road blockade would end, if permission is granted to continue the protest either at Ramlila Maidan or Jantar Mantar.
Farmers protesting on the Ghazipur border at Delhi for the last 11 months against the three farm laws enacted by the Centre last year, have started to open the service lane to ease the traffic. They said it is the police who have closed the road and not them. Farmers belonging to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Thursday started removing the tents built on the service road to start the traffic movement.
Two days after announcing to launch his own political outfit to serve the interests of the people, two-time Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday slammed AICC general secretary Harish Rawat, saying the party has damaged its own interests by not trusting him and giving the party into the hands of an 'unstable person' like Navjot Sidhu.
The data comes on a day when India reached the milestone of 100 crore vaccinations, and demonstrates that lack of vaccine hesitancy has played a big role in achieving this number.
