Badal announces 100 cr grant for burial grounds; calls Capt, Kejriwal ‘paper tigers’

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Dera Baba Nanak (Gurdaspur), October 26

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has announced a grant of Rs 100 crore for constructing and maintaining burial grounds for Christians and Muslims.

Making the announcement at a sangat darshan programme in Dera Baba Nanak on Wednesday, Badal also called Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal “paper tigers” who did nothing but “roar”.

“These paper tigers are good for nothing. The social media is their new theatre. Both have developed a knack of roaring in cyber space. These tigers will retreat to their respective dens-one in Delhi and the other in his New Moti Bagh residence at Patiala-once the elections are over. The SAD will maul them in the polls,” said the CM.

The chief minister also called Amarinder Singh’s promised debt waiver an attempt to fool voters.

“No state government can ever waive off agriculture loans as they have been extended to farmers by nationalised banks,” Badal said.

The Congress has called the SAD government's grant announcement an “electoral gimmick”.

“For nine and a half years, the chief minister remained silent on giving grants to Christians. Now when elections are around the corner, he suddenly announces doles. This is an election gimmick and nothing else. He preferred to make this announcement in Gurdaspur district as he knows that Christians and Muslims constitute a significant vote bank in this area,” Ashok Chaudhury, president of the Gurdaspur Congress Committee, said.