Malik tears into Cong over ‘unkept’ promises

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 11

Ahead of the Parliamentary elections, BJP’s national president Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Amritsar on February 24 to boost up the morale of party workers.

BJP state head Shwait Malik said Amit Shah would address the Shakti Kendras where the dedicated workers look after the polling booths for Lok Sabha elections.

He said the “dismal” report card of the two-year term of the Congress would be witnessed in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Launching a scathing attack on Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in the state, he said, “The two-year working of the Congress government has an apt slogan — Luttange, te je bologe tan kuttange (Will loot, and thrash those opposing us). The latest example is the teachers who raised their voice to protest against the state government’s regularisation policy in Patiala.”

Terming the state government a bundle of lies, Malik said that prior to the Vidhan Sabha elections 2017, the Congress had released a “misleading” manifesto under the tutelage of Dr Manmohan Singh.

He said the government had announced to waive off Rs 90,000 crore loan of farmers, but it ended up as a political stunt resulting in mass suicides by marginal farmers. “Capt Amarinder Singh had vowed on ‘gutka’ sahib to eradicate the drug menace within four weeks, but it turned out to be farce as after the lapse of 100 weeks, drug abuse has grown manifold,” he said.

He alleged that the Congress government had broken the backbone of the BPL strata by discontinuing the old-age pension, widows’ pension and shagun schemes. He claimed that during the tenure of SAD-BJP, around 18 lakh beneficiaries were there under these schemes.

“Similarly, the government had promised jobs to one member of every family, Rs 2,500 unemployment allowance and free smartphones which hasn’t been fulfilled. Industrialists too feel deceived as the hike in power tariff has put their businesses on ventilator. Same is the fate of BPL families who were falsely promised free medical insurance up to Rs 5 lakh. Government employees’ DA instalments are still unpaid,” he said.

He alleged that the Centre had already released its share of funds for the smart city project in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, but the state government has not yet spared a thought to contribute its share.