Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday pledged to make Jalandhar better, cleaner, and more vibrant ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha bye-election.
In a public meeting held in Jalandhar, both leaders promised to address all problems faced by the district in coordination with their MP once they win the election.
“AAP will build a big hospital, like PGI, in Jalandhar, eliminate mountains of garbage and fix all broken roads,” Kejriwal assured the crowd.
Kejriwal highlighted the lack of progress in Jalandhar under the Congress’s leadership in the past 60 years. “The public did not get anything. Give a chance to AAP this time,” he said.
Kejriwal also emphasised the AAP’s commitment to serving the people of Punjab with utmost sincerity. “Within three months of forming the government, we made electricity free. And now 24×7 electricity supply has also started,” he said.
He also mentioned how the AAP government imprisoned the minister who embezzled SC scholarship money in the previous government, ensuring that everyone now receives scholarships fairly. Kejriwal further assured the public that any mistakes in ration distribution would be rectified and every cardholder would receive their rightful share.
Bye-election in Jalandhar, scheduled to be held on May 10, is necessitated by the death of Santokh Singh Chaudhary, who hailed from Congress. While AAP has fielded Sushil Kumar Rinku, the Congress has given the ticket to Chaudhary’s widow Karamjit Kaur.
On Thursday, the public meeting saw both Kejriwal and Mann urging the people of Jalandhar to give AAP a chance to serve them better.
Addressing the supporters, Kejriwal said that a year ago the residents of Punjab provided tremendous support to the Aam Aadmi Party. The people of Punjab had given the Aam Aadmi Party 92 out of the 117 seats in the state. “It was because of the love of the people that Mann went on to become the Chief Minister of Punjab,” he said.
The AAP National Convenor pointed out that before the state assembly elections last year, AAP said that they will ensure that the electricity bill of residents of the state become zero after the elections, but many people did not believe them. He said that the leaders of Congress would go around telling the people that this was not possible as the state Budget was already in deficit.
“The leaders of both the Akali Dal and the Congress would say that these are all lies and the AAP was not capable of providing free electricity to the residents. They would also point out that the state Budget was running in losses for several years. But within three months of coming to power, the AAP Government made sure that the people here got a zero electricity bill,” he said.
Highlighting the achievement of his government, CM Mann said that government schools are being transformed, as are government hospitals. He appealed to people to vote for AAP’s candidate Rinku as their MP.