Aam Aadmi Party convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said his party would contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, claiming that “the people of the state see AAP as the only option after the dismal performance of the Congress government in the last 18 months”.
He also ruled out alliance with any political party for the Lok Sabha elections. Talking to mediapersons after attending party MLA Rupinder Kaur Ruby’s wedding, Kejriwal said they would soon sort out whatever differences had cropped up in the Punjab unit. He refrained from making any further comment on the crisis in the party.
Lashing out at the Punjab CM, he said: “Capt Amarinder had promised to provide a job to one member of each family, but he failed to do so. Even unemployment allowance is not being given. He had pledged to wipe out drugs within four weeks of forming government in the state. He also failed to deliver on the promise of complete debt waiver to the farmers.”
Kejriwal accused the CM of resorting to “politics of complete connivance” while asking as to why the government didn’t initiate any action against former CM Parkash Singh Badal despite him being indicted by the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report. “The CM must answer why no FIR has been lodged against the Badals,” he said. Reacting to the Sangrur court dropping sedition charges against AAP MLA Naresh Yadav in Quran sacrilege case, he hailed the move, while claiming that Yadav was “wrongly implicated” in the case.
On stubble burning causing pollution in Delhi, he said he had taken up the matter with the Union, Punjab and Haryana governments last year and they had assured of initiating measures, but it was unfortunate that nothing concrete had been done.