Congress govt will make special provision in Punjab after 2027:Baghel
Warring asserts units among ranks, says not in race for Chief Ministership
Bajwa promises to finish gangsters like Congress finished terrorism
Punjab Newsline, Chandigarh/Balachaur/Samrala-
‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’ is gathering momentum in Punjab with thousands of people, including the MGNREGA workers participating in Congress rallies in different parts of the state.
The party leaders also asserted complete unity among the rank and file and reiterated that the Congress party was committed to serve the people no matter who becomes the Chief Minister after the party's victory in 2027 assembly elections. The party held two rallies in Balachaur and Samrala covering the districts of Nawanshahar and Ludhiana.
Speaking on the occasion former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and the party general secretary in charge for Punjab, Bhupesh Baghel announced that once Congress government is formed in Punjab in 2027, it will make a special provision to restore the MGNREGA in the state. He said, in case the BJP government did not revive it till 2029, the Congress government which will be formed at the centre with Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister will revive it.
He reiterated that the Congress was committed to the welfare and well being of the poor and the downtrodden. He accused the BJP government at the centre of only working for a select few friends like Adani and Ambani who were being provided everything by the BJP government.
The former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister alleged that the real intention of the BJP government was to completely scrap the scheme and that the new law replacing the MGNREGA was just a façade to deceive the poor and the marginalized.
He pointed out how the BJP government had changed the system of allocating funds, which were earlier decided in the villages and panchayats but will now be decided in Delhi. He said, a rights based law has been turned into charity.
Addressing the rally, the PCC president Raja Warring asserted that the BJP and the AAP were two sides of the same coin. He said, while the BJP has scrapped the MGNREGA now, the AAP had already failed in its implementation. He quoted the example of Ludhiana, where out of 1.21 lakh families covered under MGNREGA, only 12 had got 100 days work.
The PCC president also dismissed all the claims of the opposition that the Congress was divided. He said, since the opposition parties including the BJP and the AAP have nothing against the Congress, they were now spreading rumours about factionalism in the party. Warring reiterated that he was himself not in the race for the Chief Ministership. Moreover, he added, none of the party leaders had said he was in the race. “All of us want the Congress to form the government in the state and get rid of the looters and robbers who have held the state to ransom for the last four years”, he added.
Warring also reminded the ladies, who attended the rally in large numbers that the Congress had made bus travel free for them and still a large number of women had voted for the AAP for its promise of Rs 1000. “We provided you free bus travel and they made a fake promise to you”, he told the women while adding, “now is the time to reward us for what we did for you and punish the AAP for its betrayal with you”.
Addressing the rally, Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Partap Singh Bajwa said that the MGNREGA was initiated by the Congress in 2005 after consultation with all the political parties. He pointed out, the Standing Committee of the Parliament which discussed it threadbare before it was passed in parliament, was headed by the BJP leader and former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.
Referring to the state of affairs in Punjab, Bajwa said, nobody was feeling safe here. But, he promised, the Congress will finish all the gangsters within one month the same way the party finished terrorism from Punjab.
He accused the AAP of looting the resources of Punjab pointing out how the sand was being plundered from the Punjab riverbeds. Quoting Kejriwal, he said, Punjab’s income from sand mining should be Rs 20,000 crore every year. “Where has all this money gone?” he asked the AAP government.
Bajwa also accused the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of interfering in the religious institutions. He asked him that instead of seeking accountability from the SGPC, he (Mann) should answer about his own accountability, as what he has done for Punjab during the last four years.