Punjab will halt the “Vijay Rath (victory chariot)” of the BJP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday said a day after the saffron party claimed that ‘lotus’ will now bloom in the border state following its resounding poll victory in West Bengal. Separately, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said Punjab is not a truck that now someone else’s turn has come to drive it.“The BJP has hijacked democracy and destroyed it. Even if a party wins an election, it does not matter to them. They use agencies like ED and CBI, money power, horse-trade MLAs, break parties, topple governments, send leaders to jail, and get votes deleted and added. What happened in West Bengal was not an election. We have been witnessing what has been happening there for months. The same has been done in Bihar, Maharashtra, and even in my own New Delhi constituency,” Kejriwal said“In the New Delhi assembly constituency, before I went to jail, there were 1,48,000 votes, and when I returned only 1,06,000 remained. Around 42,000 votes were deleted in six months. I had won the previous election by 30,000 votes, but after 42,000 votes were deleted, I lost by 3,000 votes. How can anyone win when all the votes are deleted? This is happening across the country and democracy is under threat,” he said.
The AAP leader said that in 2014, there was a wave for Narendra Modi. “After forming the government in May 2014, they kept winning elections… Then came February 2015 and in the Delhi elections, the BJP won only three out of 70 seats.”
“Once again, a wave is building. They are winning everywhere…But in the upcoming Punjab election next February, this Ashwamedha horse (BJP) will be stopped, and after the Punjab elections, the Modi government will fall,” he said, adding that the 2027 Punjab election would be “the last election” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal was addressing the Punjab AAP MLAs at Kapurthala House in New Delhi. The AAP MLAs had accompanied Mann who earlier in the day submitted a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu seeking recall of the six of the seven Rajya Sabha MPs from state who had last month crossed over to the BJP.
The AAP supremo said that there is a pro-incumbency sentiment for the Mann government, with every village acknowledging the work done by the administration. “It is very rare for people to praise a government. Usually, after four years, people say there is strong anti-incumbency. But in Punjab, you can go to any village or any locality, and today there is no anti-incumbency; instead, there is pro-incumbency,” he said.
Kejriwal asserted that AAP will again in Punjab, but added that hard work will be required. “You will have to go door to door and explain that the BJP hates Punjab and Punjabis. Despite having full power at the Centre, they have done nothing for Punjab. Instead they are snatching even what rightfully belongs to Punjabis,” he said.
On the seven MPs who switched to the BJP, Kejriwal said that those seats belonged to Punjabis.
“BJP looted those seats from Punjab, and now we all have to work to stop them. Punjab has historically stopped foreign aggression, but this time the enemy is within,” he added.
Earlier, speaking to the media after the President, Mann took a swipe at the BJP. “They claim it’s Punjab’s turn. Is the BJP trying to intimidate us? It’s a misunderstanding on their part. They have only two MLAs in Punjab and may end up with none in the next election,” said Mann, adding, “Punjab is not a truck that now someone else’s turn has come to drive it”.
He accused the BJP of failing to address issues afflicting Punjab, including matters related to the Bhakra Beas Management Board, water resources, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and funding for rural development and National Health Mission.
“Have they advocated for any interests of Punjab? Ever since we enacted the strict anti-sacrilege law, they have been talking about weakening the Bhagwant Mann government by conducting ‘Operation Lotus’ or
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