Punjab polls: Voting for Cong is like voting for drug peddlers, says Kejriwal

Kalanaur: AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that votes polled to the Congress will be votes for the "drug dealers" of Punjab, at his Kalanaur and Kahnuwan rallies on Friday

He was accompanied by AAP candidates from Dera Baba Nanak and Qadian Gurpartap Singh Khushalpur and Kanwalpreet Singh Kaki respectively.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that the Congress and the Akali Dal have a "secret alliance" for the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls and state Congress chief Amarinder Singh and Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia have "decided not to take action against each other".

Kejriwal claimed that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder have "looted the state in turns" and the people, "in the absence of any other option", had to vote for one of them, adding that with the emergence of AAP, the voters of Punjab now have a "healthy option" to save the state.

"After AAP forms the government in Punjab, the status of historical city will be given to Kalanaur. As per the requirements of the people, a government college, a modern hospital, a sports stadium, a sugar mill and a museum for Christians will be constructed at Kalanaur," he said.

In an attack on Amarinder, Kejriwal alleged that the Congress leader was again trying to "befool" the people of Punjab on the pretext of providing employment by filling up "fake job cards".

Quoting the notification issued by Amarinder's government in the state in 2002, he alleged that the former chief minister had held a cabinet meeting in April "to ban recruitments in the state right after taking charge in March."

"Captain (Amarinder) was the one who started the contract system in government jobs in Punjab and passed orders to ban recruitment in government jobs. The old pension scheme was abolished by him during his 2002 tenure," alleged Kejriwal.

He claimed that as per the Congress leader's promise of providing a government job to every family, the government would have to create 60 lakh new jobs. "Does he have any plan for creation of new jobs?," he asked.

Kejriwal said AAP has promised to give jobs to 25 lakh youths and claimed that it has a detailed plan for that.

Saying old age pension, widow pension and handicapped pension will be raised to Rs 2,500 per month, he also promised to revive the old age pension scheme for government employees.

The AAP leader assured the people that his party would get their money swallowed by chit fund companies back by impounding properties of those companies.

He dubbed Amarinder's promise to curb the drug menace in state as "fake" alleging that it was the Congress leader who had opposed to a CBI inquiry against "drug lord" Majithia.

"Whenever I talk about sending Majithia to jail, Captain Saab comes to fight with me. Both Sukhbir Singh Badal and Captain are challenging me to contest the election against them, but I will continue to fight against the mafia raj and drugs," said Kejriwal.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the CBI raid was carried out to "divert attention" from the "failure" of the demonetisation scheme.

He said, there hasn't been a Prime Minister "as unsuccessful as" Modi.

"We have done no wrong and are not going to get cowed down. You have unleashed CBI, Income Tax department, the Delhi Police on AAP ministers and MLAs.

"You (Modi) cannot control crime. Your balloon of black money has burst, people converted their black money into white. You couldn't control that. You have put expertise of all agencies to target the Aam Aadmi Party," Sisodia said.

Sisodia said no evidence has been found against the AAP, but the (Sahara-Birla) papers have been found against the PM.

"The papers are being circulated in public and we will continue to do. The papers suggest that there is an evidence against the PM, but CBI is conducting raids at our offices," Sisodia said.