Ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday launched an offensive against the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine and the Congress in Punjab.
“Due to the anti-poor and anti-reservation agenda of successive governments of the BJP and the Congress at the Centre, and in many States where they have ruled, the problem of unemployment and poverty is on the rise,” said Ms. Mayawati at a rally at Phagwara.
She said that Punjab has been marred by large-scale corruption under the current regime but once the BSP assumed power, employment opportunities would be created for the State’s youth and the drug menace would be eliminated.
“We will create means of livelihood by generating jobs in public and private sectors,” she said, adding that corruption, coupled with wrong policies of SAD-BJP combine and the Congress, were responsible for unemployment in Punjab. Ms. Mayawati asserted that elimination of drugs would be a priority for the BSP.
“Punjab is facing the drug menace for which Akali-BJP government is responsible. Curbing the drug menace would be our priority and we will ensure that effective steps are taken to end the illegal drugs business and put the culprits in jail,” she said.
The BSP chief attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the demonetisation move, and asked people to punish the prime minister by defeating the Akali-BJP combine in the upcoming Assembly polls.
“This ill-planned [demonetisation] move created chaos in the country,” she said.
Ms. Mayawati alleged that the BJP, its “favourites and capitalists”, had “settled their black money and converted it to clean money days before the decision of demonetisation was announced”.
