"Is He A Chief Minister Or Arvind Kejriwal's Pilot?" Amit Shah Jabs B Mann

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said Punjab's law and order is going from bad to worse but Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has no time to spare for it and his only job seems to take the state aircraft for Arvind Kejriwal's nationwide tours.

"Sometimes I wonder whether he is a chief minister or a pilot.... Mr Kejriwal's countrywide tour is conducted by the Punjab chief minister," Mr Shah said, launching a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation in Punjab.

The government has no concerns for problems of Punjab, he said, adding that "the chief minister is touring the entire country. One can understand if he does so on his own, but as Kejriwal's pilot?"

Addressing a rally in this border district of Punjab as part of the BJP's outreach campaign to mark the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government, Mr Shah said, "In my entire life, I have not seen a government like the one led by AAP, which makes hollow promises." Attacking Mr Mann, he said, "The chief minister has only one job. If Kejriwal has to go to Chennai, then he goes to Delhi in the aircraft to take him to Chennai. If he (Kejriwal) has to go to Kolkata, then again he (Mann) takes the aircraft and take him to Kolkata." "His entire time is consumed by Kejriwal's tours and as a result of this, Punjab's law and order is going from bad to worse," he said, adding people are not safe here.

While the drug trade is increasing, Mr Shah said, the Chief Minister has no time to address it or farmers' issues.

Many BJP leaders have alleged that Delhi Chief Minister and party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal took along Mann during his visits to different parts of the country so that he could fly in Mann's state aircraft.

Attacking the AAP over its poll promises, Mr Shah said, "I have come here to ask Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal that you had promised Rs 1,000 to every woman in the state, but they are still waiting for that. What to talk of Rs 1,000, not even 1,000 paisa has been transferred into their accounts." He listed various achievements of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre in nine years and said India is now known as a growth engine around the world.

Attacking the AAP dispensation in Punjab, Shah said oppression of Dalits has increased here. A minister is involved in sexually exploiting a Dalit, but no action has been taken, he said, without naming the minister.

On the drug issue, he said the Narendra Modi government has decided to free the country from the menace and very soon the drug trade in Punjab will be shut.

Within a month an office of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) will be opened in Amritsar, he said.

Very soon BJP workers in Punjab will go to every village and every tehsil in Punjab to spread awareness about drug abuse, the senior BJP leader said.

He appealed to people to re-elect the BJP-led government at the Centre with more than 300 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, saying PM Modi has to be made prime minister again.

Referring to the AAP's pre-poll promise in Punjab, he said it promised to garner Rs 20,000 crore by taking action against illegal mining, but only Rs 125 crore has been collected, which is less than even that by the previous governments.

For marriage of girls, it promised Rs 51,000 assistance. There are 15,000 applications, but not even one has been given assistance by the Mann government, he said.

Mann's two priorities are "furthering Kejriwal's politics and giving full-page advertisements (in newspapers) across the country", he charged.

"I can understand the Punjab government issuing advertisements in Punjab, but it is issuing advertisements in Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal using state funds," he said.

He lauded the role of Punjabis in safeguarding the nation's borders and hailed their sacrifices for the motherland.

Mr Shah said Punjab is a land of farmers and the central government has taken several steps for the benefits of farmers.

He also talked about initiatives such as Kartapur Sahib corridor, observing December 26 each year as 'Vir Bal Divas', renovated Jallianwala Bagh memorial, Delhi-Amritsar-Katra highway, and two Vande Bharat trains for Punjab.

Mr Shah also touched upon the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, saying it was the Modi government which send the culprits behind bars.

He said the BJP-led government at the Centre did a lot of work for Gurdaspur, including building roads with a total length of 431 km and 10,000 houses under the PM Awas Yojana.

The BJP MP from Gurdaspur, actor Sunny Deol, was not present at the rally.

Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal, and BJP leaders Vijay Rupani, Manpreet Singh Badal, Sunil Jakhar, Ashwani Sharma and Manoranjan Kalia were among those present at the rally.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)