Chandigarh, Oct 2 (IANS): Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Monday asked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal to tell Punjabis where the purported Rs 50,000 crore investments have been made in Punjab, claiming that "forget any investment, no infrastructure project has been taken up for execution for the last around two years in the state".
Reacting to Kejriwal’s statement that Punjab had received an investment of Rs 50,000 crore, the SAD chief said Kejriwal should substantiate this claim or apologise to Punjabis for lying to them.
He said that forget attracting any investment, Punjab has witnessed a flight of industry to Uttar Pradesh as well as other states during AAP's tenure.
“The Chief Minister has tried desperately to mislead the Punjabis by asserting that German companies like BMW are going to invest in Punjab. Even after an official rebuttal by BMW, now Kejriwal is making similar claims to befool the people,” he said.
Claiming that Kejriwal resorted to a pack of lies during this recent visit to Patiala where a ward of the Mata Kaushalya hospital was refurbished, the SAD President said, “The truth is that Mata Kaushalya hospital was demolished and rebuilt during the previous SAD government. Now only a ward has been refurbished but crores are being spent to derive cheap publicity on this issue."
Badal said an impression is also being given that Punjab is at number two position nationally as far as maintenance of law and order is concerned.
“This is furthest from the truth as Punjabis know. Gangsters are having a field day and even AAP legislators are hand-in-glove with criminal elements and the drug mafia due to which Punjab is suffering from breakdown of law and order along with a sharp increase in the drugs menace,” the SAD chief said.
He added that the Chief Minister has completely demoralised the police force by taking action against an honest police officer who had taken a tough stand against illegal mining and arrested the brother-in-law of the Khadoor Sahab legislator.