The ruling government in Punjab has consistently drawn flak over the “mismatch” between its tall claims and the ground reality. Ahead of the elections, the opposition Congress couldn’t have asked for a better time to nail the ruling alliance on this disparity in its campaign. But the Akali Dal seems ready with its counter-offensive. It intends to come out with precise data on the “actual monetary benefits” that have tricked down to the common man in the past two years of its governance in the state.

The data, being tabulated by the party, is expected to be ready in the next about a week.

Party leaders will be assigned the task to reach out to the people with data inputs to drive home the point of good governance and development in the state, Member of Parliament Naresh Gujral told The Indian Express. The date, he said, will have details of actual benefits that have accrued from the atta-dal, pension, shagun schemes and reached beneficiaries. Gujral said, “For instance, nearly Rs 1 crore of benefits per Assembly constituency have been reaching people just in Doaba. We will overwhelm the people with these facts on development to expose the Congress propaganda.”

Leaders in the ruling party admit that somewhere there has been a “disconnect” with the people on works carried out by them. The attempt will now be to bridge the gap, a senior leader said, adding that the campaign will focus on core development agendas being pursued by the ruling alliance.

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