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AAP, Congress in ‘alliance’, trying to create anti-BJP, anti-Centre environment in Punjab: Jakhar
Targeting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Jakhar asked why the state government has not implemented its own agriculture policy. He said that the draft of the policy has been ready since October 2023 and asked what was the chief minister waiting for.
BJP president Sunil Jakhar questions Mann on slow agriculture policy implementation, taking credit for central funds. (Source: Express Archives)
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Opposition Congress in Punjab are working in an “alliance” to divert people’s attention from real issues and to create an anti-BJP and anti-Centre environment under a “planned agenda”, state BJP president Sunil Jakhar Thursday said.
Countering what he called, a false narrative against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government, Jakhar said during the UPA regime, the agriculture budget was Rs 21,933 crore, whereas it has increased to Rs 1.30 lakh crore under the BJP government.
Under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, Rs 4.27 lakh crore has been directly transferred to farmers’ bank accounts, he said, adding fertiliser subsidies, which were Rs 18,460 crore during the UPA era, have increased to Rs 1.77 lakh crore under the BJP government this year.
The UPA, Jakhar said, spent Rs 4.75 lakh crore on minimum support price (MSP) procurement, while the BJP government has spent Rs 18.98 lakh crore. Jakhar said procurement of pulses and oilseeds at MSP has started for the first time, and in Punjab, every grain of wheat and paddy is being procured at MSP by the central government.
Targeting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Jakhar asked why the state government has not implemented its own agriculture policy. He said that the draft of the policy has been ready since October 2023 and asked what was the chief minister waiting for.
He added that if the government can formulate an industrial policy with the help of industrialists, why can it not prepare an agriculture policy with farmers.
Jakhar further said that the entire expenditure on canals and water channels in the state has been funded by the Government of India but the chief minister is taking credit for projects built using central funds while simultaneously criticising the Centre.
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Similarly, he said, Mann does not acknowledge central assistance for stubble management, even though a major portion of funds comes from the Centre.
He said the CM has admitted that the state received Rs 13,000 crore from the Centre for disaster relief, out of which only Rs 477 crore was spent, and the rest was allegedly misused by previous governments. He expressed surprise that it took Mann so long to review the treasury records. He added that, on the other hand, leaders of the Congress—whom Mann is accusing of misusing funds—are acting as defenders of the AAP government in Parliament. He said Congress has completely failed in its role as an opposition, and its leaders have either “sold their voice” to Mann or lost the ability to speak due to their past corruption.
Criticising both parties for spreading “misinformation” against the Centre and the BJP in Punjab, Jakhar said that AAP and the Congress are “deliberately working in alliance” to divert people’s attention from the real issues of the state. He said that in the 2027 assembly elections, the people of Punjab will give their verdict against the “lies” of AAP and the Congress.
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