The BJP on Friday released the first list of 34 candidates for the upcoming election to the 117-member Punjab assembly, slamming both Congress’ Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann while predicting a “surprising verdict” favouring the coalition led by it in the state.
Punjab BJP in-charge Dushyant Gautam, who hit out at the Congress Government on its “failure to resolve issues related to corruption, misgovernance, sacrilege, illegal sand mining and drug addiction,” also took a direct dig at CM Channi, referring to the recent ED raids, including on those linked to him. “All the problems remain, which shows that no progress was made in the past five years. Congress’ present CM (Charanjit Singh Channi) is himself deep in corruption…in his own constituency illegal sand mining is happening. It also needs to be investigated how he managed to amass such wealth in just two-three months,” Gautam said.Union minister Hardeep Puri, who too slammed Channi for “illegal sand mining in his constituency”, also urged for “deep reflection” on CM candidates of both Congress and APP given the sensitive nature of the border state and its contribution to the nation.
Without naming Mann, Puri said he was neither against social drinking nor was he taking a moral position. “Doing ‘nasha is a personal choice…but there are videos, facts speak for themselves…I am not taking moral position on drinking (alcohol)…If you like social drinking, you can…but in a sensitive state like Punjab can you make a man with such an image your face,” he questioned.
