SAD-BJP govt has failed to utilise central funds: Sonia

“The Centre gave huge amount of money to the Punjab government for the state’s progress,but it did not reach the people,” her statement said at a rally here while kickstarting the Congress election campaign from the Doaba belt of the state.

Charging the Parkash Singh Badal government with “miserably failing” on all fronts,she has said the peasantry and employees in the state are unhappy with the SAD-BJP alliance.

“The government in Punjab even failed to disburse salaries to its employees,” she said in her speech,adding that “only a Congress government is capable of bringing prosperity and development in the state.”

Quoting statics of the last five years,she said during the period the number of poor increased manifold in the state. “How has the population of poor increased in the state,” she questioned.

She said the Centre gave Rs 5,000 crore to Punjab under the MNREGA scheme,but only Rs 526 crore was utilised by the SAD-BJP government in the state.

Noting that no development had taken place in Punjab in the past five years,she said,”These parties forge alliance only to win elections.”

“These parties make big promises and you know what happens after the polls,” she said.

The Congress President told the electorate that they have a huge responsibility and their future would depend on their choice of the next government.

After Independence the Congress governments were instrumental in construction big dams,power houses and rail workshops,she said,seeking votes for development of the state.

Gandhi told the voters that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was eager to set up a refinery in Punjab.

On the issue of development,she said the UPA government at the Centre never differentiated between a state governed by Congress and a non-Congress ruled state.

“The SAD-BJP completely failed to take advantage of the schemes sponsored by the Centre,” she said.

Listing “failures” of the SAD-BJP alliance in Punjab,she said power situation is worse,government schools are in a bad condition and industry is leaving the state. “Such a situation is giving rise to unemployment and crime,” she said.

Gandhi alleged that the SAD-BJP alliance committed atrocities on women and did not protect the interests of farmers.

She said the SAD-BJP government took loans to pay salary to its employees.

“How do they (SAD-BJP) claim that a government exists in the state,in fact there is no government worth its name in Punjab,” she said.

In her brief speech,she noted that for the betterment of Punjab a change is required and said that during the Congress regimes the state had made rapid progress.

Earlier,in a message read out at a rally at Moga,where she could not make it because of bad weather,Gandhi assured party workers in Punjab that the entire senior leadership was with them and asked them to stand firm and united to bring Congress back to power in the state.

Gandhi said the worst was over and it was a matter of a few more days when people of Punjab would have a friendly government led by the Congress unlike the current one which has victimised people all over.

Her message was read out by party in-charge for Punjab Thakur Gulchain Singh Charak.

Meanwhile,some Youth Akali Dal activists held a symbolic demonstration at Moga carrying black flags.

They blamed the UPA for price rise and accused it of discriminating against the SAD-BJP alliance in the state.

The activists said they did not want to disturb the proposed rally of Congress and as such they held demonstration at the GT Road.

In a related development,some anti-Sikh riot victims gathered at Mohali near here and burnt an effigy of Gandhi.

All the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab will have a single day poll on January 30.

In her 10-minute speech at Kapurthala,Gandhi said the Congress was fighting the election for the welfare of the state and its people,especially the poor,who has the right to live with dignity.

She alleged that the SAD-BJP combine government was involved in a scam in the Public Distribution System and the poor people failed to get any relief under the scheme.

Criticising the state government for its huge debts,she said Punjab was facing “deep financial crisis”.

She reminded people that Punjab got heavy industries like the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala during the tenure of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

State Congress chief Amarinder Singh claimed that the Congress would win more than 70 seats and form the next government.

He said the Congress would put the state back on the rails and improve its economy.

He promised that if voted to power,the Congress would bring back the industrial units which had been shifted out of the state.