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Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday praised Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu for the “courage shown by him” in exposing false promises made by chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi-led state government.
“Yesterday, chief minister Channi claimed his government has ended the sand mafia and reduced the price of the sand. Immediately, Mr Sidhu said this information is wrong and he (Channi) is lying. He highlighted that the sand mafia is still operating and it is being sold on old prices. I salute his courage,” Kejriwal said on the second day of his two-day visit to poll-bound Punjab.
He was replying to a question on the dissenting voice of the Punjab Congress chief at a press conference, where he was accompanied by AAP Punjab chief Bhagwant Mann, in-charge of party state unit affairs Jarnail Singh and co-incharge Raghav Chadha.
Sidhu himself has said that the promises or announcements being made by Channi are lies, said Kejriwal. “Sidhu Sahib is raising people-centric issues but the entire Congress party is indulging in suppressing his voice. First it was Captain (Amarinder Singh), now it’s Channi who has indulged in suppressing him. However, he (Sidhu) is rightly raising this voice,” Kejriwal added.
He also took potshots at Channi, saying the Punjab CM has not fulfilled his promises of giving free electricity to the people of the state, constructing mohalla clinics etc. “Corruption is still rampant in the state,” he said.
Congress was not available for any comment.
Punjab will go to assembly polls in February-March next year.
Replying to a question on AAP MLAs leaving the party and joining other parties, Kejriwal said, “Ahead of elections, MLAs from all parties switch sides. Party-hopping is common everywhere. If there is completion over MLAs switching sides and joining rival parties, then I can assure there are a minimum of 25 MLAs and two MPs from the Congress party who are in touch with AAP. But we don’t want their ‘kachra’ (garbage).”
Kejriwal also announced an eight-point guarantee to transform the education sector Punjab, including regularising the services of contract teachers. “Today, I am here to discuss issues pertaining to teachers. I met a few teachers yesterday. They told me that they are earning ₹10,000 per month. This is way below the minimum wage in Delhi. I promise the services of the teachers would be regularised immediately after the AAP forms government in the state.”
The eight guarantees include creating a Delhi-like environment in the education sector in Punjab, regularising outsourcing and contractual teachers, implementing a transparent transfer policy, banning non-teaching work from teachers, permanent recruitment on vacant posts, sending teachers abroad for training, bringing in a transparent policy for new promotions and providing cashless medical facilities for teachers and their family members.
He added, “Teachers are made to do anything but teaching. This is the condition of the entire nation. I want to promise that the teachers will be made to teach students. They won’t be allowed to carry out Census, data entry work at government offices, etc.”
Meanwhile, when a journalist asked him about the party’s CM face in the state, many party workers started shouting Mann’s name. “Every party usually declares its CM candidate a few weeks before the day of polling. We will also do this. However, we will declare the face before other parties”.
“I make it clear that Kejriwal is not a CM candidate,” the AAP chief added.
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