Punjab: Kejriwal greeted with black flags as he holds roadshow from Khanouri to Barnala

SANGRUR: The much-hyped roadshow of the AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal in support of the president of the state unit of the party and Sangrur candidate Bhagwant Mann got marred to two separate protests at Khanouri and Sunam.


As the party chief started his five-day campaign in Punjab with the roadshow from Khanauri, a group of youth showed him black flags for portraying Punjab as the land of drug addicts.

The protestors, mostly youngsters, alleged that during the assembly elections Arvind Kejriwal had often called Punjab a haven for addicts and later, he had tendered an unconditional apology to ex-minister Bikram Singh Majithia for levelling charges of his involvement in the drug trade. They demanded that if his barbs against the people of Punjab could be substantiated with evidence, then why did he tender an apology to Majithia. This, they said, proved that Kejriwal only wanted to exploit the situation for his own political gains in the state and now he must tender an apology to the people of the state. However, the party claimed that the youth had been instigated by the Congress to hold a protest against the party chief.

Later, a large number of villagers held a protest as the roadshow reached Sunam. Here the protestors lamented that party candidate Bhagwant Mann, who is also the sitting MP from the Sangrur seat, had failed to bring around any development in their villages and all his claims were nothing but baseless lies. The villagers said Mann had promised grants worth Rs 5 lakh to each of their villages, but he failed to get even a single penny released for development.

Meanwhile, beginning his campaign in Punjab Kejriwal targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh saying both the leaders had sold lies to the people to come to power at the centre and the state, respectively. At Lehragaga he lauded Mann as an MP claiming that he had done a commendable job by redressing the core issues and concerns of all categories of people.

He also went on listing achievements of his Delhi government focusing primarily on improvement in health services and education and reduced cost of power, a key issue Punjab. He also tried to strike a chord with the farmers by speaking about the Swaminathan recommendations for the farmers and how Narinder Modi could not implement any of these, while the Delhi government started paying the equivalent price to farmers as per the recommendations. Comparing the prices being paid to the farmers, he said while farmers in Punjab and Haryana were getting Rs. 1840 per quintal, respectively, in Delhi they were getting Rs 2616 a quintal.

He said Captain Amarinder Singh reneging on all poll promises peddled under oath, while the Badals had to pay a heavy price for the ‘misdeeds’ of their alleged role in the desecration incidents in the state.




Kejriwal will be campaigning for the party candidates in Punjab till Friday.