Free power to farmers to stay, Capt Amarinder assures voters

Says will continue with free power and atta-daal schemes 

Kharar, January 17
A public rally addressed by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder Singh and Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni here saw the crowd keen to listen to the former Chief Minister, but not the local candidate, Jagmohan Singh Kang.

Waiting since morning on a cloudy day, party supporters from Chamkaur Sahib, Kharar and Mohali assembly segments gathered at the first rally attended by the PPCC chief after withdrawal of nominations.

While the party candidate Jagmohan Singh Kang tried to put a show of strength, Rajbir Singh Padiala, a senior party leader, who holds a sizeable vote bank in the segment, while addressing the rally said, "Politics does not always mean getting a chairmanship or an MLA ticket. I am a worker of the party and always abide by the directives of the PPCC chief. One should work for the masses." Padiala was considered as the front-runner for the party ticket from Kharar, but was later denied. Though considered close to Capt Amarinder Singh, he announced not to contest against the party candidate, but rather work for the party.

Addressing the rally, the PPCC chief said the state would continue to provide subsidised atta-dal to the poor, free power to agricultural sector and provide further subsidies under the National Food Security Act, which has already been approved by the Union Cabinet and will soon become a law.

He said the SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal was spreading rumours by saying that the Congress will stop free power and the atta-daal scheme.

Justifying the food subsidy, he said the state was not paying from its own pocket for the atta-dal scheme, as it was the Union Government's policy. He called upon the voters to compare the two regimes, the Akalis between 2007 and 2012 and the Congress between 2002 and 2007. "The main achievement of the Akalis is that they have added seven lakh more families to the already 13 lakh existing families living below the poverty line", he said while alleging that the SAD-BJP alliance was the most corrupt and incompetent government in the history of Punjab.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni asked people to judge themselves as what the Akalis and the Congress had done before voting. Among others who spoke on the occasion included local MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, Inderjeet Singh Randhawa, Balbir Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi.