Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal dares Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann over Rs 40,000-crore investment, 2.5 lakh jobs claim

JALANDHAR: Launching a vitriolic attack on the Punjab government over claims that it had attracted an investment of Rs 40,000 crore besides giving jobs to 2.5 lakh youths, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday dared Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann to "give names of 500 youth to whom jobs had been given" by the claimed investment.


“The CM is lying as no investment has come into the state.In fact, the industry is moving out to Uttar Pradesh and other States. The chief minister should list the addresses of new industries which have been set up in the state," Badal said.
"If the figure of 2.5 lakh jobs was to be believed, it meant that 20 jobs had been given in each village in the state. This is an outright lie. I challenge the chief minister to give names of 500 youths who have been given jobs with the claimed investment,” he said while interacting with media at Adampur ahead of the Jalandhar parliamentary bypoll.

Criticising theg CM for asserting that the state governor could not ask him any questions because he was “selected” and not “elected”, Sukhbir said that (at the same time) the CM was allowing AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to run the affairs of Punjab.
He questioned the CM if Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia had been elected from Punjab that they were interfering in Punjab affairs as Sisodia framed the excise policy of the state.
“Even Raghav Chadha, who has not been directly elected by Punjabis, is deciding on all civil and police postings,” Sukhbir said.
Holding the CM responsible for the “constitutional crisis” in Punjab, the SAD leader said that the CM was refusing to answer governor's questions pertaining to corruption and illegal decisions.
“After the government blocked queries from political parties and even RTI applications on certain issues, the parties approached the governor after which he asked the CM, " he said.
Maintaining that the SAD had always been a votary of federalism and was against central interference in the affairs of states, Sukhbir said, “However, many of the issues raised by the governor pertain to corruption and the AAP government should not shy away from coming clean on these issues of public welfare.”
He also said that the SAD had approached governor Banwari Lal Purohit requesting him to make AAP accountable for all advertisements issued by the government outside Punjab in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat prior to the assembly elections there to recover the entire public money.