Our 5 priority areas have started getting a push: Navjot Sidhu

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 29

A day after Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh asked PSPCL to revisit all one-sided PPAs signed by previous government, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Navjot Sidhu on Friday claimed that his five priority areas had started getting a push.

Sidhu said this as he visited Congress Bhawan here to meet the party leaders and workers of Jalandhar and Kapurthala. Addressing the media and the gathering, he said, “Jehra sada panj-nukati priority area hai, ehde te hun boor pena shuru ho gya hai (Our efforts to get the five priority areas pushed has started bearing fruits).”

He reiterated that the Punjab model on power supply was far better than the Delhi model as Punjab was perhaps the only state which was offering Rs 10,000 crore subsidy to the masses as compared to Delhi which was offering only 1,700 crore subsidy. He even mentioned that the power tariff being levied from Punjab industry was lower than that for the industry in the national capital.

“Punjab is generating 30 per cent power on its own. It is buying power at higher price than it is offering to the masses but still the domestic consumer is feeling the pinch because of the wrong PPAs signed by Badals and peak time fixed charges being doled out throughout the year to the private companies. But we will get them all cancelled,” Sidhu said.

He said that in times to come he will be seen less in public as he would be focusing on the task to strengthen the organisation. While he had come to listen to the party workers in Jalandhar calling in 10 workers from each Assembly segment, hundreds of workers turned up. Chaos and fights had begun but Sidhu managed to control them by his charged speech.

The workers responded by coming out with one-liners and chanting slogans in his favour. They stood up on their chairs to listen to him and cheer him up.

While he could not hold Assembly-level meets with the Jalandhar MLAs and leaders, Sidhu managed to do it for Kapurthala. While all six Congress MLAs of Jalandhar – Pargat Singh, Bawa Henry, Rajinder Beri, Hardev Laddi and Sushil Rinku had turned up, from Phagwara only one of the four MLAs, Balwinder Dhaliwal came up. Rana Gurjeet Singh, Sukhpal Khaira and Navtej Cheema gave the meeting a miss even as some office-bearers, including block presidents and workers, did turn up to put across their message.