Sukhbir pats own back: ‘Am easily accessible’

As the campaign for Moga bypoll gains strength, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and SAD chief, Sukhbir Singh Badal, took time out on Tuesday to take potshots at state Congress leadership even as he patted his own back for being "easily accessible."

"One of the reasons behind Joginderpal Jain quitting the Congress and joining SAD was that unlike senior Congress leaders, I am easily approachable and accessible," Sukhbir said in what is construed to be an indirect attack on Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh.

"Jain used to easily contact me for various works of his area even when he was in the Congress," Sukhbir said while campaigning in Drauli Bhai village.

Jain had won last year's Assembly elections from Moga segment as a Congress candidate but recently quit the party to join SAD, vacating the seat and necessitating the bypoll.

Demands JPC probe into UPA's loan waiver scheme

Sukhbir, meanwhile, demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the Congress-led UPA governments "so called Rs 60,000 loan waiver scheme for farmers" in which CAG has detected some irregularities. He said that the scheme was a misnomer and was designed to fool the peasantry besides looting the exchequer, "otherwise Punjab, which accounts for 50 per cent of the foodgrains in the national pool, would have got at least Rs 30,000 crore from the scheme".

The Deputy CM said that the gravity of the scam could be estimated by the fact that out of nearly one lakh accounts scrutinised, wrongdoings were detected in at least 20,000. He said that as per the government, agricultural loans of over 3.5 crore farmers were waived, but according to the CAG, which has audited nearly 90,000 accounts, many farmers did not receive the benefits.

'Capt should quit active politics'

... contd.

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