BJP in fray for Jalandhar bypoll on Modi's performance: Amarinder
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Apr, 2023 10:59 AM
Jalandhar, April 24 (IANS) Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday said his party was fighting the Jalandhar by-election on the basis of nine years' "extraordinary performance" of the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Addressing the media here along with party state president Ashwani Sharma and other party leaders, he said under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the country's stature had risen globally.
"India has faced several domestic and international challenges successfully under Modi's leadership and the people realised that," he said, while asserting that the BJP was on a strong footing because of the performance of the Central government. "We are reaching out to people on the basis of the performance of the BJP government at the Centre," he said.
Besides, the former Chief Minister added there was unprecedented development all around, particularly in the defence and infrastructure sectors. He claimed that during the tenure of A.K. Antony as Defence Minister, there was virtually no purchase of equipment and the country was facing an ammunition shortage.
He said during Modi's tenure the country has become fully equipped in terms of ammunition.
Replying to a question over the arrest of Amritpal Singh, Amarinder Singh said the state government had done it quite late and he should have been arrested much earlier. He said nobody should be allowed to play with peace and harmony in the country as there can be no tolerance towards anti-national activities.
The former Chief Minister dismissed the suggestions that a particular community was being maligned or victimised. "Amritpal is neither a leader nor a representative of any community," he said.
He said he has always shown zero-tolerance to corruption. At the same time, he added, anti-corruption drive should not mean resorting to political witch-hunt and vendetta. Action should be taken after due inquiry and not just because someone is politically opposed to "you and you have to settle some score with him", he remarked.
On the issue of Uttar Pradesh gangster Mukhtar Ansari, the former Chief Minister said he had been arrested and detained in the jail under due process of law as there was a criminal complaint registered against him in Punjab
According to sources, the accused passenger, who was reportedly under the influence of alcohol, got engaged in an argument with a co-passenger on board American Airlines flight AA 292 and urinated on him.
Bishnoi was also involved in cross-border drugs trafficking and a Nigerian woman was working for him, claimed the Gujarat ATS, which now wants to interrogate the gangster in connection with the Al-Tayyasa boat matter in which 38.994 kg heroin worth Rs 194.97 crore was recovered from the Mitha Port in Gujarat.
Speaking at a national conference of Sports Ministers of the States and UTs here in Manipur capital, which was presided by Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Meet Hayer said Punjab has not hosted any edition of National Games or Khelo India Games since 2001.
A total of 10,827 recoveries in the last 24 hours increased the total recoveries to 4,42,61,476. The daily positivity rate is 5.46 per cent) and the weekly positivity rate stands at 5.32 per cent.
The court had convicted Gandhi on March 23 for his remarks made during an election rally in Kolar in April 2019, where he had said that "all people with the Modi surname are thieves". The court sentenced him to two years in prison and he was disqualified as a member of Lok Sabha the next day.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said that the people of Karnataka are going to "bless" the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming Assembly elections. He was speaking to reporters after participating in the filing of nomination by Arjun Halagigoudar, AAP candidate for the Terdal constituency.
