Blame game at peak as polls near

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 11

The city is abuzz with electioneering. The political parties as well as Independent candidates are making all efforts to woo voters. Leaders are largely relying upon their interpersonal skills to communicate with voters in different areas. They are resorting to blame game as usual to garner public support.

BJP district president Rajesh Honey said the candidates of his party were going door-to-door and would cover their wards at least twice. “They are holding nukkad and indoor meetings to convey their viewpoints,” he said.

Leaders of the SAD and BJP are reminding the electorate of the “unfulfilled” promises of the Congress that it made before the Assembly elections this year.

BJP candidates Arvinder Kaur, Preeti Taneja, Bakshi Ram Arora and Jaspreet Kaur in their constituencies pinpointed that despite the promise of not raising power tariff in their rule, the Congress did it and even implemented it retrospectively, thereby, increasing the domestic budget of the common people. “The performance of the Congress government is there for everybody to see in the past 10 months as neither any development took place nor new policy was chalked out,” they said.

Meanwhile, SAD candidates Nagwant Kaur, Ranjit Kaur and Dr Jatinderpal Singh Ghuman, while campaigning in their wards, reminded people of “development” carried out during the 10-year rule of the SAD-BJP. “Take the Heritage Street project, BRTS and self sufficiency in power for instance. But the Congress government could not fulfill any of its poll promises made in its Assembly election manifesto. They had promised to reduce the prices of the sand and gravel after assuming power, but the prices soared during their tenure,” they said.

However, Congress district president Jugal Kishor Sharma said the Opposition couldn’t blame them for the functioning of the MC in the past 10 months as it was being ruled by the SAD-BJP alliance. Even a mere guidance or suggestion of the Congress would have been termed as an interference so we kept away from it, he said, adding that the Congress MLAs, including, OP Soni, Raj Kumar Verka, Inderbir Singh Bolaria, Sunil Dutti and Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, were campaigning to ensure the victory of Congress councillors.

Congress candidates Harish Kumar Dimple, Sharanjit Kaur, HS Aujla and Jatinder Kaur, during their campaigns, raised the issue of “improper” use of funds by the SAD-BJP alliance. They said tiles were installed even in those areas where these were hardly required. “For instance, the walk path in a garden of Canady Avenue has been tiled unnecessarily,” they said.

They said the Civil Lines area remained the most preferred destination for the development where beautiful roads were laid and parks were beautified. “The rest of the city has been ignored. Many localities cry for basic amenities like roads, sewerage network, potable water supply and street lights,” they added.