AAP, Akali Dal hit the ground in Punjab as electioneering heats up

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

As the General Election inches closer, campaigning has gained pace in Punjab, with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) stepping up their efforts and hitting the ground to gain support.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday held a meeting with all the MLAs of the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency. He directed them to go to the people and apprise them of the AAP government’s achievements in the last two years.

Mr. Mann discussed election strategy with the MLAs and asked them to regularly hold meetings with all the office bearers of the party in Sangrur. The AAP’s candidate and State Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said that 20 years of work by the previous SAD-BJP alliance, and the Congress governments did not come close to the AAP’s achievements in just two years. “The people of Punjab are ready to reward the good performance of the AAP government,” he said.

Elections to the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held on June 1.

The Lok Sabha election will be a critical test for the AAP to assess its continuing popularity in Punjab. The party is expected to face a challenge from the Congress, the SAD and the BJP.

In Patiala, making a veiled attack on the AAP and the Congress, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal urge Punjabis to “support the SAD to save Punjab from the onslaught of outsiders”. “The Delhi-based parties don’t want to win hearts but subjugate Punjab,” Mr. Badal said.

Speaking at the ongoing ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’, he attacked both the Congress and the AAP. “Both the Congress and the AAP have looted you. Both these parties have used the resources of Punjab for their national goals. They have failed to carry out any development or even establish one big infrastructure project. They have persecuted the youth who are asking for jobs and presided over the collapse of law and order and flight of capital from Punjab to other States. The time has come to rid the State of all centrist parties,” he said.