Kejriwal tries to woo industrialists ahead of Punjab polls
Darpan News Desk IANS, 16 Feb, 2022 11:26 AM
Chandigarh, Feb 16 (IANS) In the run-up to the February 20 Assembly polls in Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday made three announcements to woo industrialists and traders by ensuring their safety and ending bureaucratic hassles.
Accompanying AAP's chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann in Mohali, near here, Kejriwal promised that for the safety of the businessmen, no leader or official would intimidate anyone or get him raided.
"After the formation of AAP government in Punjab, if any of our MLAs or ministers asks for a share from a businessman, we will take immediate action against him," the Delhi Chief Minister told the media.
He alleged that leaders of the Akali Dal and the ruling Congress in the state ask the traders for share and weekly cuts.
"If people refuse to pay, they are intimidated with threats of raids. The businessmen of Punjab are most troubled by corrupt politicians and officials. To eliminate the fear among the traders, we will completely eliminate the ‘inspector raj' and illegitimate taxation to create a safe environment for business," the AAP leader said.
Kejriwal appealed to all the traders and ‘arhtiyas' for support and said this time they should give a chance to the Aam Aadmi Party.
"Just as we have won the hearts of traders in Delhi, we will win yours too," he said.
On the issue of security of the people, Kejriwal accused the previous Akali Dal and Congress government of registering false cases to intimidate people, and said the governments of both the parties misused the police to register false cases against thousands of people who raised their voice against corruption.
AAP's CM candidate Mann assured the businessmen and traders that the party will not ask for any share from any trader, but rather make the businessmen partners in the government.
"The AAP government will work closely with the traders and launch new schemes to promote business. We will completely delink business from police and politics. We will create a safe environment for the industry and business and will stop the exodus of traders from Punjab," Mann said.
The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 20, and the counting of ballots will be taken up on March 10.
It is the largest agricultural protest to take place in India and others from around the world have also joined in, tens of thousands of farmers have camped for months on major highways to New Delhi to oppose the three laws.
On Thursday night, Shah reached to Nadda's residence and meeting between the two leaders lasted for about an hour. The Shah-Nadda meeting came after a series of events. Earlier, on Wednesday, Amarinder met Shah.
The police identified the victim as hakeem Satnam Singh who was attacked at his clinic on Thursday in the limits of Faqirabad police station. A police official said that unknown assailants, whose number could not be ascertained, opened fire on the victim and managed to escape from the scene, the Dawn news report said.
Chief Secretary H.K. Diwedi held an emergency meeting with the District Magistrates and Superintendent of Polices of West and East Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, and Howrah on Thursday evening and took stock of the situation. After that the state government decided to deploy the Army in certain areas. However, NDRF teams have been kept on standby.
According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Khalid, Shriram Chaurasia, Zishan Ahmad, Vikas Kesarwani and Krishna Kumar. Inspector (Kareli) Anupam Sharma said the arrested persons had sold SIM cards to law-breakers at high prices after creating fake IDs.
