Sonia questions Akalis on Punjab’s poor (Lead)
January 19th, 2012 - 11:51 pm ICT by IANS
Kapurthala (Punjab), Jan 19 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi Thursday questioned the development claims of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) government in Punjab, pointing out that over seven lakh families have been added to the state’s existing list of 13 lakh poor households.
Addressing her first election rally here ahead of the Jan 30 elections to Punjab’s 117 assembly seats, Gandhi asked the Akali-BJP government to explain what development it had carried out in the state during the past five years.
She said this government had proved to be most inefficient one as Punjab had seen total decline on all fronts during the last five years.
She said that the state government had failed to utilise the Rs.5,000 crore grant provided to it under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
She said the state government could spend just Rs.526 crore, while letting the remaining money unutilised.
Referring to the ‘atta-daal scheme’ of the state government, Gandhi said it was 100 percent financed by the central government and still the Akali-BJP government was trying to claim credit for it.
Appealing to the voters to support the Congress, Gandhi said in Hindi: “It is in your hands whether you want Punjab to progress under a Congress government or you let it decline further under Akali-BJP alliance.”
Referring to Kapurthala’s historic importance, Gandhi said it had a long history spanning over 1,100 years. More than that, she added, this place was divine as it was at Gurdwara Beri Sahib near here that Guru Nanak Dev prayed for 14 years and got enlightenment to lead and guide the entire humanity.
Earlier, Gandhi could not address her rally at Moga town as she was unable to reach there due to bad weather.
Gandhi’s message was read out to the gathering at Moga, in which she said that the “worst is over and it is a matter of a few days more before the people of Punjab will have a friendly government led by the Congress, unlike the current one which has victimised people all over”.
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Tags: 100 years, akali dal, assembly seats, atta, bad weather, central government, congress government, congress president sonia gandhi, decline, election rally, enlightenment, few days, guarantee scheme, guru nanak dev, jan 19, mahatma gandhi, poor households, punjab, sahib, state government