Ludhiana bypoll:
Ludhiana (Punjab) [India], June 15 (ANI): Days ahead of Ludhiana West bypolls, BJP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying 'those who cheated and looted Delhi are today looting Punjab.'
CM Gupta was campaigning for the BJP candidate, Jiwan Gupta, for the Ludhiana West bye-election scheduled for June 19. AAP has fielded sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora from the seat, which fell vacant after the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi. The counting is on June 23.
Gupta stated, 'Those who cheated and looted Delhi are today looting Punjab. We will not let this happen. The people of Delhi have sent me to Ludhiana. I have come here to tell the people about all their (AAP) acts, all their stories of corruption.'
Her remarks targeted AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, whom she earlier accused of causing spurious liquor deaths in Punjab and burdening the border state with a 'Rs 4 lakh crore debt.'
Speaking to ANI, she also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ensuring Punjab's security through Operation Sindoor, while slamming the Congress for lacking patriotism.
Gupta said, 'These (Congress) people, they neither love the country nor the soil of the country, the Army or the people of the country. Today, Punjab is safe only and only because of PM Narendra Modi.'
Earlier in a poll rally, she criticised Kejriwal for colluding with the 'builder mafia' and not having a single 'Punjabi or Sikh minister' in 10 years of AAP government in Delhi.
'There was not a single Punjabi or Sikh minister in 10 years of your tenure in the Delhi government,' she said, and further alleged that AAP's Punjab government is controlled by non-locals like Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain.
Meanwhile, AAP's Delhi President Saurabh Bhardwaj on Sunday asked Gupta to clarify if the BJP's new excise policy will privatise liquor shops or not?
Bhardwaj, speaking to ANI, said, 'I have a direct question for her (CM Rekha Gupta). BJP objected to the Delhi Excise Policy and claimed that liquor shops had been privatised. Later, the policy was scrapped, and the shops became government-owned again. Rekha Gupta should clarify if she will privatise liquor shops under the new Excise Policy. This will reveal who is in collusion with the liquor mafia. She should answer this.' (ANI)
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