Pathankot, Dec 3 (IANS) Slamming Amarinder Singh for his "myopic" mindset towards the poor, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Friday that the former CM targeted him because he had raised issues of the common man.
Addressing a public gathering at Bhoa near here, the Chief Minister said that as he "comes from a family with humble background, he always impressed upon the former Chief Minister to safeguard the interests of the common man".
However, he said, instead of resolving the issues and give reprieve to the poor and the downtrodden, the 'Maharaja' -- as Amarinder Singh, the scion of the erstwhile Patiala Royal family, is called -- started victimising him.
Channi said that even then he continued his struggle for the underprivileged masses.
The Chief Minister said that only the Congress can take a revolutionary decision to oust a 'Maharaja' and bestow responsibility of the Chief Minister to a common man.
However, he said this revolution can sustain only if all the common and needy people stand united to support the Congress. Channi categorically said that the powerful elite class is conniving to destabilise this common man's government by dividing the poor on sectarian lines.
Lashing out at the Akalis, the BJP and Amarinder Singh, the Chief Minister said they are partners in crime against the people of Punjab. He said the trio had connived to pass anti-farm laws for jeopardising the interests of the state.
Channi said the Akalis are the mother of the anti-farm laws, as they had passed the Bill on contract farming in the Punjab Assembly in 2013, which later became the basis of the 'draconian' farm laws, adding that they were hand-in-glove with the BJP to pass these black laws in the Parliament.
Slamming Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal for his 'little knowledge' about the state, Channi said the Delhi Chief Minister is groping in the dark for fulfilling his lust for power.
He said besides being an outsider, Kejriwal is also a rumour-monger who knows nothing about the state but pokes his nose in every matter.
Such cheap politics will never be successful in the state, he added.
The Chief Minister also said that Kejriwal is a 'power hungry outsider', who desires to rule Punjab due to which he is trying to mislead the Punjabis.
9 persons, including four farmers, were killed in the violence that had erupted during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri. A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli will hear the matter on Thursday. The matter has been listed as 'violence in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) leading to loss of life'.
Canadian MP Tim S. Uppal said he was shocked to learn about the brazen attack on protesting farmers. Another Canadian MP Ruby Sahota said she was heartbroken to learn about the violence directed at protesting farmers.
The demand made by citizens primarily mirrored their right to clean air and the right to breathe, underlining the reality that Punjab is home to some of India's most polluted towns, including Mandi Gobindgarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, and Patiala.
The case was assigned to the division bench of Justices A.G. Masih and Ashok Kumar Verma. Earlier, the case was being heard by the bench of Justices Rajan Gupta and Ajay Tewari but the latter recused himself from hearing the case on September 1.
Furnishing details about the incident, Additional DCP-2 Nishant Gupta told IANS that they had received information about a firing incident in the northeast Delhi area on October 1.
The activists of Punjab Congress will walk towards Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh if Priyanka Gandhi is not released and the Union Minister's son accused of murder not arrested, said state party President Navjot Sidhu on Tuesday.
