The infighting in Punjab Congress seems never ending. From Captain Amarinder vs Sidhu, the fight has escalated to Channi vs Sidhu. On Monday, a heated situation was witnessed in the party’s Punjab unit after Navjot Singh Sidhu launched another attack against CM Channi.
The Punjab PCC head, Navjot Singh Sidhu took a dig at CM Charanjit Singh Channi during his speech to the Arora Hindu community in Chandigarh. He accused the CM of telling "lies"
and making "false promises" ahead of the state assembly election.
"People are given lollipops in the last two months," said Sidhu.
"The situation has been extremely volatile over the last five years. Freebies have been distributed in the last two months. The moon and stars have been promised. You ask him (Channi)
from where he will procure this. The question in your hearts should be whether we simply want to form a government in Punjab, and that too by telling lies and making 500 promises," said Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu's statements came just minutes before Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi made a major announcement about power tariffs.
The Punjab government slashed power tariffs for domestic consumers by Rs 3 per unit on Monday, just months before the Assembly elections, putting a burden on the exchequer of Rs 3,316 crore
per year.
The decision will take effect immediately and will benefit around 69 lakh consumers. The state has nearly 72 lakh domestic consumers.
Also Read: Punjab CM Channi makes big announcement, slashes power rates by Rs 3
CM Charanjit Singh Channi made the announcement following a Cabinet meeting.
Sidhu, exposing his own government, went on to say that “there has been a debt of Rs 5 lakh cr on Punjab. If people think this debt will be repaid by the govt, they are mistaken. The
burden will be borne by the people.”
“If treasury is overflowing, why do they not increase the salary of teachers to Rs 50,000/month,” he asked.
Navjot Sidhu’s rebellion style has been praised by the opposition, mainly Akali Dal leaders.
Following Sidhu’s remarks, Dr Daljit Cheema, spokesperson for the SAD stated, "I'd like to thank Navjot Singh Sidhu for exposing the lies and false promises made by his own
government in order to fool the public. Sidhu also claims that the Congress government did nothing prior to the formation of the new government.”
According to the Akali Dal leader, whatever is being done in Punjab during the last few months of the Congress government should have been done in 2017.
Earlier, the party leadership had hoped that the Channi-Sidhu duo would lead Congress towards winning. However, Sidhu’s rebellion is likely to shed the party’s dreams in pieces.