Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab Chief Ministerial candidate, MP and state president Bhagwant Mann, reacting to former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s remark ‘people need seriousness, not drama or gimmick’, said that, “Punjab needs pro-people and serious leaders, not corrupt politicians and ‘masand’. Punjab doesn’t need politicians who had caused its people pain, made them shed the tears of blood and ruined the youth with drugs.”
In a statement issued from the party headquarters on Wednesday, Bhagwant Mann slammed former Chief Minister and Patron of Shiromani Akali Dal Badal, Parkash Singh Badal and said, “Parkash Singh Badal his family and relatives have encroached Shiromani Akali Dal and Punjab politics. He said that Parkash Singh Badal had been the Chief Minister of Punjab for nearly 20 years. But the state of Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat, during the tenure of Badal, is not hidden from anyone.
Mann raised the issue of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, slaughter of Sikh youth, Punjab’s debt, mafia rule and drug empire and said Prakash Singh Badal is responsible for it all. Mann said, “Prakash Singh Badal should define seriousness. Who is serious leader? And who is doing drama for the last 50 years?”
Mann asked Parkash Singh Badal, “What about the leader who throws Punjab into a fiery furnace then sits in a farmhouse in another state and sends his son abroad. Let the sons of common families die and sacrifice to save the Panth. When the time comes to rule the state, invite his son from abroad and hand over the reins of government to him,” He said that Akali Dal and Congress party, including families of Badal and Captain, have looted Punjab’s treasury and destroyed Punjab. These leaders amassed wealth for their seven generations while, everyone else in Punjab is drowning in the river of debt.
Mann asked Prakash Badal to have mercy on Punjab at last and talk about some serious issues, saying Punjab, Panth and Punjabis have borne the brunt of his (Badal’s) wrongdoing. Mann said that the people of Punjab will take assembly elections very seriously and they won’t elect corrupt and ‘masand’ leaders again.
He added that people have witnessed the miserable rule of Shiromani Aakli Dal and Badal family and now they are very much aware of double-faced leaders like him, who only use Punjabiyat and Panth for their political gains. He claimed that the people of Punjab have decided to form Aam Aadmi party government and root out these corrupt political families.
