Punjab rally: Capt Amarinder replaced as his govt was being run by BJP from Delhi, says Priyanka Gandhi

Tribune News Service

Parvesh Sharma and Balwant Garg
Sangrur/Kotkapura, February 13

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday attacked Capt Amarinder Singh saying during his tenure as Punjab Chief Minister since 2017, the state government was working on the directions of the BJP in Delhi under a tactical understanding. “This forced us to change that leadership in the state, so that the Punjab Government operated from Punjab, not Delhi,” Priyanka said while addressing an election rally in support of Congress candidate Ajaypal Singh Sandhu.

The AAP also has the same agenda and plan to govern Punjab from Delhi as per the dictates of Arvind Kejriwal, she said, adding “so, don't repeat the last mistake by supporting the AAP.”

While saying that she is married in a Punjabi family and she can feel and understand Punjabiyat from her heart, Priyanka tried to convey her special concern for Punjab. Punjabi never compromise on principles and it has been proved in the farmers’ agitation at Delhi borders, she said.

Priyanka called the AAP a branch of the RSS, which has the ideology similar to the BJP.

“As the BJP came to power at the Centre by misleading the people in 2014, showcasing its Gujarat model, the AAP is also treading the same path by selling its Delhi model in Punjab to grab power. I want you not to be get misled as both Gujarat and Delhi models exist only on papers and in advertisements,” she said.

“As BJP's Gujarat model has pushed the country into a big crisis, I don't wish the same situation for Punjab by choosing the AAP in the state,” Priyanka cautioned people in her speech.

Interestingly, she did not utter a single word about SAD(B)-BSP alliance in her 11-minute speech.

“Do you want a government like the AAP in Delhi which played a game of data gimmicks in Delhi during Covid times or a government, like in Punjab, which learnt from its mistakes of last five years and now trying to rectify these by making a change in its leadership,” asked Priyanka.

Earlier, Congress candidates from Kotkapura, Jaito, Faridkot and Muktsar Assembly seats accompanied Priyanka Gandhi on the stage.

“AAP leaders make big announcements about the development of Delhi, but ground realities are different there,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said in her speech in Dhuri, where she was campaigning for Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy.

“AAP has failed in Delhi as well. They accepted the central farm laws and could not take a stand against PM Narendra Modi. Farmers sat at the New Delhi border against the central farm laws, but no one from AAP came to support you. They want to form Punjab government only to develop their party politically,” she said.

Unemployment, she said, is Punjab’s biggest problem.

“This is your election. I’m hopeful that you’d make the right decision,” she said.

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