Chandigarh: Slamming the BJP for stooping too low by indulging in ‘pollution politics, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said that the anti-farmers and anti-Punjab stance of saffron party has been exposed as it hates Punjabi farmers since they had raised banner against the draconian farm laws.

“Only three cities of Punjab figure in 32 cities of north India with poor Air Quality Index (AQI), but the BJP and Centre have unleashed slanderous campaign against hard working and resilient farmers of state by squarely blaming them for environmental hazards”, said the Chief Minister in a video statement issued here today.

The Chief Minister said that it is ironic that the Punjab farmers who had played a major role in making the country self-reliant in food production are being blamed for paddy straw burning whereas the BJP had turned a blind eye towards poor AQI in other states. He questioned the silence of BJP over far more worst AQI in Faridabad, Manesar, Gurgaon, Sonipat, Gwalior, Indore and other states where the saffron party is in power. Bhagwant Mann said that it reflects the anti-farmers and anti-Punjab mindset of the Union government and BJP.

The Chief Minister asserted that the basic reason is that the BJP hates the farmers of the state who had spearheaded a campaign against black farm laws. He said that in vengeance to this, the BJP is hell bent on defaming the state and its farmers. Bhagwant Mann said that surprisingly the BJP and Union government are continuously blaming the Punjabi farmer for environmental pollution by ignoring their immense contribution in the national food pool.

The Chief Minister reminded the centre that they had submitted a solution for the paddy straw burning by offering to jointly pay financial assistance to farmers worth Rs 2500 in lieu of not burning paddy straw. However, he said that instead of accepting this proposal the centre had blatantly refused to bail out the farmers. Likewise, Bhagwant Mann said that in order to provide a viable solution for management of paddy straw a large number of investors wanted to come to the state and set up Bio energy plants.

However, the Chief Minister said that unfortunately the centre created hindrances in it by refusing to give permission for setting these plants. He said that the Punjabi farmer is fully sensitised towards not burning paddy straw as he knows that it will adversely hit his family. Bhagwant Mann said that the armchair economists sitting in Air conditioned offices at Delhi are not giving any solution to the farmers but they are continuously bringing disgrace to them by falsely accusing them of burning the paddy.

The Chief Minister categorically said that since it is a problem concerning the entire north India, the Prime Minister must have convened a meeting to find a solution to this issue. He said that it is a paradoxical situation that until Punjabi farmers are contributing paddy in the national pool they are food growers but after procurement is over they are being castigated on a frivolous issue. Bhagwant Mann said that this is humiliation and injustice towards Punjabi farmers which is totally unwarranted and undesirable.

The Chief Minister said that the Punjabi farmers want to shun the practice of paddy straw burning but the centre has no solution to offer to them. He asked the BJP and centre to not threaten the Punjabi farmers by daily asking the state to lodge FIR against them. Bhagwant Mann said that instead of threatening the Punjabis farmers must be shown a way for dealing with this problem efficiently.

The post ‘Pollution politics’ has exposed anti-farmers stance of BJP: Bhagwant Mann appeared first on TV Punjab | English News Channel.

Rajkot (Gujarat): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s co-incharge for Gujarat and Rajya Sabha MP, Raghav Chadha, has accused the Gujarat government of putting several senior AAP leaders from the state under house arrest and forcible detention ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally on Monday.

Addressing a press conference here, Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Chadha said that many senior AAP leaders including candidates, Lok Sabha in-charge, district presidents and some other office-bearers of the party have been detained at the police stations or placed under house arrest before PM Modi’s rally today in the state.

He also accused the BJP government of tapping phones of all AAP leaders in the state and said, “BJP has fallen so low in their tactics that now they are tapping my phone and that of many other senior leaders. This is is a direct attack on our privacy.” He went on to say that all these are signs of an extremely nervous BJP which is baffled with the huge response that the AAP is receiving from Gujarati people.

He rejected the allegations levelled by the BJP against Gopal Italia, president AAP Gujarat unit MP Chadha saying that Italia has never used objectionable language against PM Modi or anyone else. He said that Gopal Italia is being attacked by the BJP because he is from Patel Community and he had participated in the protests organised by the Patel community against the BJP .

Training his guns on the BJP leaders, Chadha said that false claims are being made against AAP leaders including Italia to malign the image of the party and its supremo Arvind Kejriwal ahead of Gujarat polls.

“Old videos of our leaders have been made viral to create a political upheaval in the state. BJP is terrified because by now they have realised that people of Gujarat want ‘Parivartan’ (change) from their corrupt rule of 26 years ” he said.

Replying to a query, Chadha said that only AAP’s events are being cancelled, and BJP goons are creating ruckus in the AAP party’s rallies.

Chadha said, “Like Arvind Kejriwal worships lord Krishna, I am an ardent follower of Shree Hanuman ji and I visit the temple every Tuesday to worship lord Hanuman,” said Chadha. But, the BJP is demolishing ‘Ganpati Pandals’ to disrespect Hindu gods. The BJP leaders are not working for any religion or caste but only to fill their own coffers and to make their friends and relatives rich.

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Dahod: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann arrived in Gujarat on Saturday as part of a two-day visit. Here, he jointly addressed a public meeting in Dahod town of tribal-dominated Dahod district. During this, Kejriwal said that the Aam Aadmi Party is winning in Gujarat. The party is getting 94-95 seats here. With 40-50 days left for the elections, they will push that the record of Delhi-Punjab will be broken.

The Aam Aadmi Party government will be formed on December 1. After that, we will end corruption first.

He said that the poorest of the poor pay taxes. But where does that money go? The Gujarat government spends Rs 2.5 lakh crore. These people did not work in 27 years. Took land in the name of wife, son’s name and even on the names of their unborn child.

Kejriwal said, “Electricity has been made free in Delhi and Punjab, old bills have been waived. People have zero bills. 42 lakh people of Delhi and 50 lakh Punjab have zero bills.”

From March 1, people’s bills in Gujarat will come to zero. 5,000 units of Gujarat CM and 4,000 ministers get free electricity. If the public gets free electricity, then they get irritated. From March 1, the bill zero will come. 1 thousand will be given every month in the account of all women above 18 years, he said.

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Rajkot (Gujarat): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today asserted that winds of change are witnessing in Gujarat and people of the state will script new success story after polls.

Interacting with the media here while presenting guarantee of maintenance of Cow, the Chief Minister, accompanied by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister said that people of Gujarat are confronting same problems as were witnessed in Punjab prior to 2022 polls. He said that Gujarat is facing severe agriculture crisis, schools and hospitals are in shambles and the situation of roads are in pitiable situation, a situation which was in Punjab before 2022 polls. Bhagwant Mann said that the situation can change only if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is voted to power.

Slamming the Congress and BJP, the Chief Minister said that both the parties are two sides of same coin. He said that despite of being worst victim of operation lotus the Congress has supported BJP’s anti-democratic stand in the ongoing session of the state assembly. Bhagwant Mann said that once it was Congress (I) but now it is Congress (BJP) as both the parties have connived with each other to plunder people and wealth of state.

Listing the several path breaking initiatives of the Aam Aadmi Government in Punjab, the Chief Minister said that from July 1 onwards the Punjab government has provided 600 units of free power to people in every bill cycle. He said that as a result of this around 50 lakh households out of total 72.66 lakh, which was roughly 68.71 %of total) have got zero power bill in the month of September. Likewise, Bhagwant Mann said that more than 17,000 government jobs have been given to the youth in last six months.

Similarly the Chief Minister said that his government is against the exploitative contractual system of jobs due to which they had started process of regularising services of more than 30,000 contractual employees in state. Bhagwant Mann said that he has launched anti-corruption helpline after which corrupt elements are being put behind the bars. He said that only an honest government can take such path breaking and pro-people initiatives

The Chief Minister said that in order to tackle the menace of stray cattle efficaciously, the state government is strengthening the Gau Sewa Commission. He said that the motive is to reduce the fatalities due to accidents caused by stray cattle on one hand and to ensure proper upkeeps of cow on the other. Bhagwant Mann said that efforts are afoot to ensure judicious utilisation of cow cess for welfare of cattle.

The post Winds of change blowing in Gujarat as people ready for scripting a new record: says CM appeared first on TV Punjab | English News Channel.

Chandigarh: A day after Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit sought details of legislative business to be taken in the assembly session called by the state government on September 27, Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora has termed it “unfortunate and condemnable”. He accused the Governor of working at the behest of BJP to implement ‘Operation Lotus’ in Punjab.

Addressing a press conference here, Punjab New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora said that in the past 75 years, no President or Governor has ever asked for the list of legislative business before calling the session. This is happening for the first time because the Punjab Governor is clearly working in cahoots with BJP and Congress to weaken the democratic system and stop the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government from working for the welfare of common people.

“The latest attempt to murder democracy is that the governor’s office sought the details of legislative business for September 27, which has never happened in the past. Earlier, the governor withdrew his assent for a special session called by the AAP government on September 22, at the behest of BJP because that would have exposed Operation Lotus, “Arora said.

Launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Punjab Minister said that in 2012 when Modi was CM of Gujarat, he had accused then governor of conspiring with Congress against his government and now the BJP is following a similar strategy to hamper the functioning of ruling parties across the country.

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Saturday said that the governor office is constantly interfering in the work of Punjab and not allowing an elected AAP government to work freely.

Lamenting interference of governor, Cheema said, “I want to ask the governor, to check the record of his office and tell the people how many governors have asked the ruling government to provide information about the purpose of summoning an assembly session. Till today, no governor did it. Only he is doing so, because he is working at the behest of the BJP.”

Lashing out at Congress, Akali Dal and BJP, Cheema said that they made Punjab behind from all sides, Punjab used to be a number one state, today the youth of Punjab is migrating to foreign and drug mafia has annihilated future of Punjab.

The post ‘Unfortunate and Condemnable’ Punjab Governor working at the behest of BJP to implement ‘Operation Lotus’ in Punjab: AAP appeared first on TV Punjab | English News Channel.

Ahmedabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is campaigning for the Gujarat assembly elections, claimed that baffled with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s popularity, BJP is planning to declare Amit Shah as its CM face in Gujarat.

“BJP is flabbergasted with AAP’s rapidly growing popularity. Is it true that in the upcoming Assembly elections, the BJP is going to declare Amit Shah ji as the CM face in Gujarat? Is the BJP also satisfied with Bhupendrabhai Patel’s work?,” AAP said in a social media post.

Gujarat is going to polls for the assembly this year. The BJP is in power in the state and the main opposition party is the Congress.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal is constantly visiting Gujarat. Recently, the AAP had released a list of 10 candidates. Aap has indicated that it will contest all the 182 assembly seats in Gujarat.

The post Kejriwal claims BJP scared of AAP’s growth in Gujarat; ‘Is Amit Shah CM face?’ appeared first on TV Punjab | English News Channel.