ChandigarhCongress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday questioned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s “undue” influence on the Bhagwant Mann cabinet in Punjab while completing the state leg of the party’s outreach march, Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Gandhi took a veiled dig at Kejriwal’s aide and Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s appointment as chairman of the Punjab government’s advisory panel, saying that Chief Minister Mann should be allowed to run “Punjab from Punjab” and not by remote control.
He said “RC” – referring to the abbreviation used among bureaucrats and politicians in Punjab for Rajya Sabha MP – meant the “RC” of remote control.
The Congress leader also accused the Aam Aadmi Party of using Punjab money to pay for advertisements in the recently concluded Gujarat elections. “It is not right. Bhagwant Mann was with us in the Lok Sabha. He is not like Arvind Kejriwal. I like Bhagwant Mann and I want to tell him that Punjab should be run from Punjab.
The Punjabis are unique, Gandhi said, “You have a language of your own, a rich history and gurus who have shown you the way. Mine is the way too. I bow down to them and have learned a lot.”
Gandhi lashed out at arch-rivals BJP, saying the Congress-led coalition UPA had ruled with schemes aimed at reducing people’s insecurities. “BJP’s schemes only increase fear among people. Demonetisation increased fear among poor, high GST increased fear among small industrialists and traders. The crop insurance scheme scared the farmers.”
“The three farm laws created fear even among farmers, who start their work at four in the morning and continue through the day. Similarly, the Agniveer scheme created fear among the armed forces,” Gandhi said.
“Once you instill fear in people, it becomes easy to spread hatred and that is what the BJP does,” he said.
He touches on his repeated rebuke that the BJP has “robbed the hard work of the people and handed it over to a handful of millionaires in India. These millionaires, in turn, market the BJP in the media and that’s why you see it everywhere.” Modi’s picture is visible everywhere.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has upset the BJP.
“First they scoffed at the possibility of such a visit and now they are worried about its success,” he said. They held a two-day meeting and instead of discussing national issues including the country’s security, they only discussed how to win elections in the next 400 days.
He called BJP a party of thieves. They took away five states from us where people voted the Congress to power. BJP is never concerned about the country or its people. Their only concern is to win elections and stay in power.”
During the rally, Punjab Congress leaders unitedly requested Gandhi not to allow “outsiders” to run the show.
State Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Waring said leaders leaving other parties and joining the Congress could not be trusted. Waring said, “Those who have Congress blood in them, only they should be entrusted with responsible work.” Former cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa supported Waring’s statement.
Leader of the Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa hailed Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Minister. He said that if Gandhi was to lead the country, he should not hand over the reins to anyone else. “A proxy rule,” he said, was no longer acceptable.
Bajwa also hit out at former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who on Wednesday resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP. Bajwa said, “As finance minister, he first destroyed the Shiromani Akali Dal, then the Congress and now he will do the same to the BJP.”
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