Delhi CM delivers telephonic speech

Parveen Arora
Tribune News Service
Balpabana (Karnal), November 17

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was stopped at Panipat, delivered a telephonic speech to the people of Balpabana village in Assandh in the district. In the around 4.30-minute telephonic address, he accused Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of not allowing him visit Karnal. “What was my fault. I was only going to visit a dispensary in Balpabana village, for which residents had approached me but was stopped by the state government,” he said. “I wish to make hospitals and schools of Haryana on a par with Delhi. The BJP government has failed on both fronts,” he added.

Kejriwal made an emotional appeal to people saying, “It was not my insult, but of all of you. So, teach the BJP a lesson in the coming elections".

In Karnal, a handful of people, including BJP leaders, on Saturday blocked the road at the Munak Canal head with tractor-trailers. The protesters accused Kejriwal of opposing Haryana’s share of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal waters and also blaming state farmers for pollution in Delhi. The protesters led by Gulab Sigh, BJP leader and chairman of the market committee Assandh, carried black flags and shouted slogans against Kejriwal.

AAP state convener Naveen Jaihind alleged that instead of removing a few BJP supporters from roads, the Panipat district authorities stopped Kejriwal at the behest of the government so that he does not visit Balpabana village. Meanwhile, Assandh SDM Anurag Dhalia refuted the allegation and said that the Delhi Chief Minister's entourage halted at Panipat due to security reasons. He said that had Kejriwal visited Assandh, the situation could have worsened.

The district and state units of AAP had made arrangements for the public meeting at the village and a large number of people had assembled to listen to Kejriwal.