PM’s contribution major factor in Punjab

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has been saying that Manmohan is “good man in bad company”. Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal has been more direct and termed him “a weak PM,who failed to address various burning issues and adopted a discriminatory attitude towards Punjab”.

The PM’s family is settled in Amritsar and he visited the city four times during his tenure,each time making it a point to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. On every visit,he announced a number of development projects and schemes. “But he failed to address the serious issue of endless shifting of industry from Punjab to Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand and Jammu & Kashmir,” says SAD (B) spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema.

Congressmen counter that it was during the tenure of the NDA,of which SAD was and is a part,that these states were doled out tax holidays,resulting in the shift. “Why did the SAD and BJP remain silent then?,” asks Ashwani Sekhri,deputy chief of Congress’ Election Campaign Committee,headed by former CM Capt Amarinder Singh. Amarinder,too,has billed the PM’s contribution as a major factor. “Be it the IIT at Ropar,the IIS at Mohali or the central university at Bathinda,all of these institutes came to the state thanks to Dr Manmohan Singh,” he says,listing the integrated border check-post at Attari,the world-class university at Amritsar and improvement in road network and quality as his main contribution to the state. Sekhri adds the hike in the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat and paddy,besides the farm loan waiver,to the list.

But BJP MP and candidate from Amritsar,Navjot Sidhu,refers to Manmohan as a “paper tiger”,accusing him of neglecting the state. Sidhu says that it was only after he raised the issues of developmental projects,that major schemes coming into force in the region.

Akali leader Bikramjit Singh Majithia is of the opinion that the waiving the loans taken by farmers has done nothing to improve farmers’ plight in Punjab. “The farmers here prefer loans from arhtiyas (private commission agents),they did not get any benefit of the loan waiver,” he claims.

The Congress is also banking upon his projection as a suave,well-educated,soft-spoken and honest person. The PM is scheduled to arrive to campaign in the state,along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,in the first week of May as the state goes to polls in two phases,on May7 and 13.