Sangrur, May 10 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Friday appealed to voters to send the Akali Dal representatives to Parliament so that the party could take up all pending issues of the state and resolve them once and for all.
The SAD president, who led the ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’ across Bhadaur, Mehal Kalan and Barnala assembly segments of this parliamentary constituency along with party candidate Iqbal Singh Jhoondan, said “this is the reason we have decided to contest alone. We realised that the Central government was not resolving any of the issues flagged by us including making MSP (minimum support price) a legal right of farmers, safeguarding our river waters for perpetuity and a stop to interference in our religious institutions”.
Badal said “It is a fact that the Delhi-based parties have betrayed Punjab and Punjabis. This is the reason why our issues are not being resolved. All Delhi-based parties are taking a different stand on important issues like the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab and safeguarding our river waters in Punjab and outside it.
“When these parties, including AAP, the Congress and the BJP are in Punjab, they claim that Punjab does not have excess water but immediately after crossing the border to Haryana, they want release of Punjab waters to Haryana.”
Badal also highlighted how the experimentation with the Delhi-based parties had stifled development and even bankrupted the state. He said both the previous Congress government as well as the present AAP government had not taken up a single infrastructure project in the state.
“Even though these governments have nothing to show by way of development, the state’s debt has soared by Rs one lakh crore in two years alone during the AAP tenure,” he added.
Punjab will go to the polls on all 13 parliamentary seats on June 1.
–IANS
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