780-463-8800
[email protected]
Chandigarh, March 23: Reiterating his commitment to farm loan waiver, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday welcomed reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had instructed the Niti Aayog to make an assessment and formulate a plan for debt waiver.
While the Punjab government had already initiated the debt waiver process in the state, it was heartening to see the central government also moving towards the waiver of the debts of the beleaguered farmers around the country, said Captain Amarinder.
The chief minister, who had raised the farm debt waiver issue with the prime minister on Wednesday, said he had received an extremely warm response from both, Mr. Modi and union finance minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, whom he met in New Delhi.
In a wide-ranging interview with a television channel, Captain Amarinder spoke on a variety of issues, touching upon subjects as diverse as the political fortunes of the Congress to cabinet formation and expansion in Punjab, as well as the challenges before his government. Captain Amarinder also fielded questions related to Navjot Singh Sidhu’s TV shows, his own decision to retire after his current stint as chief minister, AAP’s poor performance in Punjab, and more.
Ruling out any vendetta politics against the Akalis, Captain Amarinder said his priority was development of Punjab rather than indulging in a vicious cycle of vendetta, and he wanted an end to the era of confrontation. Unlike the erstwhile SAD-BJP government, which had stopped all projects initiated during the earlier Congress rule, his government would continue to support all ongoing projects in the welfare of the people, he added.
To a question, the chief minister said though Congress vice president had been somewhat skeptical about the party’s chances of victory in Punjab, he was eventually extremely happy with the result of the state assembly polls. Captain Amarinder explained that it was paucity of time which led to Rahul Gandhi not being able to hold too many rallies in Punjab.
Captain Amarinder said he had received full support from the party high command in the matter of allocation of tickets. He reiterated the need to develop regional leaders to counter the growing influence of regional parties to ensure the survival of national parties.
In response to a question, the chief minister said the absence of a chief ministerial face cost AAP heavily in Punjab, with people suspecting that Arvind Kejriwal himself wanted the top post. Despite the hype on social media, AAP failed to build a presence on the ground, which led to its defeat in the polls, he added.
While he did not agree that there could be problems with the EVMs used in the polls, Captain Amarinder said there was need to analyse why some of the most advanced countries were not using such machines in the conduct of their elections.
Captain Amarinder termed the poll result as a mandate against the Akalis and an endorsement of the hard work of the Congress workers, backed by the central leadership. It was a collective victory, which could not be attributed to any single person, he said, adding that the people had voted for stability and experience.
The chief minister reiterated his government’s resolve to review all SAD decisions of the last six months of their rule and to set up a commission to probe all false cases registered by the Akalis against innocent people during their regime. He, however, ruled out setting up a commission to investigate corruption cases, but asserted that an inquiry would be instituted on any complaint received by his government in this regard.
Referring to the drugs scourge in the state, the chief minister reiterated his government’s commitment to its eliminationwithin four weeks, saying he had directed the officers to go after the drugs dealers and smugglers and not the addicts, who would be treated with compassion. Accusing the Akalis of shielding the drugs trade, Captain Amarinder said, in response to a question, that if Bikram Singh Majithia’s name cropped up in this connection he would also have to face the consequences like any other person.
The chief minister said the task force constituted to tackle the drugs problem had been given a free hand to pursue the matter as they deemed fit. He called for a national drugs policy to deal with the problem of the traditional home-grown cannabis.
Listing farm debt (to the tune of Rs. 1.7 lakh crores), revenue deficit, industrial crisis, crop diversification, the mafias and unemployment as other major challenges before his government, Captain Amarinder said his government had initiated steps to tackle these problems. He promised an end to transport, cable & TV and other mafias that had been promoted by the Badal government. Giving jobs and free smartphones were other electoral promises his government would take up on priority, he added, pointing out that his government had already initiated the process of fulfilling more than 120 of the poll promises of his party.
Referring to the halqa incharge system of the Akalis, he said these had been used by the Badal government to short-circuit the system, which his government would now bring back on track. He was optimistic about getting full support from the bureaucracy in his government’s endeavor to bring Punjab back on the path of progress. “I believe in following systems and called up SPs directly only 3-4 times during my previous stint as chief minister,” Captain Amarinder shared while talking of the breakdown of systems during the Badal tenure.
On the SYL issue, he reiterated the hope that the Supreme Court would take cognizance of the ground realities before passing its final verdict.
Replying to another question, Captain Amarinder lauded Prashant Kishor’s role in Punjab, saying he could not deliver in other states as he did not get sufficient time.
