Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said here on Tuesday that the Aam Aadmi Party would form the next government in Punjab and the “Badals will be held accountable for their alleged misdeeds that have ruined the State”.
“An AAP government would not allow Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the members of his Cabinet who are facing corruption charges to go scotfree. We will constitute a special investigating team to investigate the ill-gotten wealth of the Badal family and recover every single pie looted from Punjab,” Mr. Kejriwal said at a press conference here.
“The AAP government would also take steps to investigate the ‘Swiss accounts’ of Capt. Amarinder Singh [State Congress chief],” the AAP leader said. Mr. Kejriwal alleged that the name of Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia had surfaced in the drug racket and his name had figured in FIRs related to drug cases, but he had never been interrogated by the police.
“When the AAP government is formed, we will punish Majithia and his associates who have pushed Punjab into drugs. On March 11, results will be declared and the government will be in place by March 22. And on April 15, we will send Majithia behind bars,” he said.
Mr. Kejriwal alleged that Capt. Singh had back-stabbed the people of Punjab by helping Mr. Badal in the Lambi constituency.
“AAP candidate Jarnail Singh is set to win in Lambi and Mr. Badal has realised it. Mr. Badal had saved Capt. Amarinder in the corruption cases earlier and now Capt. Amarinder is reciprocating it by dividing the anti-Badal votes by contesting against him,” he said. Mr. Kejriwal said Mr. Sidhu, who joined the Congress, was irrelevant in Punjab elections, saying he had lost his credibility.
“Sidhu’s presence would not impact AAP prospects. Also in Jalalabad, Bhagwant Mann would defeat Sukhbir Badal with huge margin,” he said.
On the controversial Sutlej Yamuna Link canal issue, Mr. Kejriwal said that Akali Dal-BJP and Congress were taking political advantage of river waters dispute and construction of SYL canal for the last over 30 years.
“They were not interested to resolve the issue for vested interests.. There is BJP government in Centre, Haryana and Punjab. If Prime Minister Narender Modi desires, he can resolve the SYL canal issue within minutes. Even Congress at one point of time had its governments in Punab, Haryana and in Centre but no steps were taken to settle the dispute”, he said.
Mr. Kejriwal said that AAP government would not play politics on the SYL issue and will take corrective steps at political and legal level.
“I assure the people of Punjab that decision on sharing of river waters would be in Punjab’s favour.
