Arvind Kejriwal begins Punjab visit, gives Channi 5-point agenda to act

Ruchika M Khanna & Nitin Jain  

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh/Ludhiana, September 29

Embarking on a two-day visit to Punjab amidst deepening crisis in the ruling Congress, AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal here on Wednesday listed out a five-point agenda for his new Punjab counterpart, Charanjit Singh Channi, and asked him to fulfill all the pending promises made by his predecessor, Capt Amarinder Singh.

Congratulating Channi and spelling out the five-point agenda for him, Kejriwal said the tainted ministers and officers recently appointed on key posts should immediately be sacked and booked, all those accused and masterminds in the Bargari sacrilege incident be arrested within 24 hours, the unemployed should be provided jobs and till the employment is given, unemployment allowance be given to all unemployed youth, all farm loans should be immediately waived, and the controversial power purchase agreements made by the previous SAD-BJP government in the state should be cancelled.

"If Channi is serious about public welfare and has the will to serve them, he should take at least these five decisions in his four-month stint," asserted Kejriwal, while adding that he had made electricity cheaper, offered water free, and wiped out corruption in his maiden 49-day stint as Delhi CM.

Later, interacting with the media at Mohali airport, Kejriwal reiterated that AAP could provide a effective alternative to Congress. “There is a dirty fight going on for power. The people of Punjab don’t understand to whom they should take their problems to, as the Congress has made a spectacle. Now, only the Aam Aadmi Party can give Punjab a stable, good and honest government. Only four months have left until the elections, after that the AAP will give a stable and honest government to the people of Punjab,” he said.

in Ludhiana, evading a direct reply to the AAP's Punjab CM face, the party supremo said a person of whom the state would be proud of would be made the CM candidate.

Without taking any media queries, Kejriwal said he would interact with the journalists in detail on Thursday.