In Doaba Leg, Kejriwal Bats For Sport Goods Bizmen, Vows Their Welfare

JALANDHAR: To make its presence felt in the Doaba region of Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday took out a  Tricolor march (Tiranga Yatra) in Jalandhar, a key region where AAP had missed out on getting big leads during its 2017 campaign despite a whirlwind of NRI support.

The Tiranga Yatra was led by the AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP Punjab chief Bhagwant Mann and Punjab election co-incharge Raghav Chadha in an open truck, drawing huge crowd to turn its ongoing campaign on its head.

AAP is making the right noises on its campaign, giving equal space to its local leaders and Delhi incharges as they routinely mount attack on social issues concerning daily life and exchequer losses over accusations of illegal mining and poor state of education and schools in Punjab.

The Yatra started at 1 pm from Bhagwan Valmik Chowk (Jyoti Chowk) and proceeded towards Dr BR Ambedkar Chowk (Nakodar Chowk). During this yatra, Arvind Kejriwal interacted with the masses who had gathered in large numbers to catch a glimpse of him.

AAP supremo promised key doles as part of his election campaign. He announced that the country’s largest sports university will be set up in Jalandhar if AAP forms a government in Punjab. Kejriwal also promised that the party will also work towards building an international airport in Jalandhar, since that has been a long pending demand.

Kejriwal described the Tricolour yatra as an indicator of the unity, integrity and brotherhood of Punjab. He said that Punjab has seen a dark phase of terrorism and no one wants that day to return. He hailed the sports industry of Jalandhar and said the products made here are popular with the sporting legends, making references to Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s bat that is made in Jalandhar, as well as hockey sticks used by the National hockey teams.

Taking a dig at the present CM of Punjab, Charanjit Singh Channi, AAP Punjab chief Bhagwant Mann said that the CM is making empty announcements. “They had five years to work….Now they want to do this and that…”

Traditionally, Doaba is an important region of Punjab and is considered a Congress stronghold. In the last elections, Congress won 15 seats whereas AAP had won two, a statistic that it will be looking to change this time if it has to trounce a Congress and depleted Shiromani Akali Dal.

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