Cong harps on development, SAD clings to ‘naukri’ rant

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Shahkot (Jalandhar), May 26

The Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress concluded their campaigns for the Shahkot bypoll with massive day-long roadshows in the constituency.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh waved to the crowds from his luxury bus as his supporters showered flower petals on him all the way from Lohian, Malsian, Shahkot to Mehatpur. The CM was accompanied by Congress candidate Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia, PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar and state incharge Asha Kumari, among others.

The Chief Minister lashed out at the Akalis for the total lack of development in Shahkot during the last five terms in which they had represented the constituency. On the other hand, his government had announced infrastructure development projects worth Rs 113 crore for Shahkot in March, he said.

He castigated the Akalis for their “false propaganda” on compensation for muskmelon farmers whose crop had been destroyed due to hailstorm. The CM said a girdawari had already been conducted and compensation would be released after the election code of conduct was lifted.

He said the dues of sugar mill owners amounting to Rs 70 crore had also been released by the government which would be disbursed after the election process is completed.

Meanwhile, the SAD convoy was led by party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal seated along with candidate Naib S Kohar on the roof of a canter covered with a tent. Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia drove a tractor along the convoy for nearly six hours through dusty lanes of the villages. To make it more dramatic, the SAD also kept heaps of sand for sale in the last leg of the campaign at Shahkot. These were categorised as “Laddi da reta” and “Rane de Nepali Bahadur da reta”.

Akali leaders Daljit Singh Cheema, Bikram Majithia and Mahesh Inder S Grewal said the party had foiled the Congress government’s designs to convert the “Ghar ghar naukri” promise to ‘Ek ghar naukari” for the family of Local Bodies Minister Navjot Sidhu by exposing how three out of the four members of the family had been given government jobs. “Three jobs — Local Bodies Minister, Chairperson of Warehousing Corporation and Assistant Advocate General — were being given to Navjot Sidhu, his wife and son. Had we not protested, they would have facilitated a job for Navjot Sidhu’s daughter also,” they said.

The SAD leaders also pointed out that the Congress government had ignored the claims of the Dalit and backward classes while appointing law officers in the Advocate General’s office.

The convoys of both parties crossed each other at a point near Malsian.