CM Badal’s sangat darshan outings turning into vote-seeking rallies
The sangat darshan programmes of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal at Morinda and Chamkaur Sahib in the district on Tuesday turned into political rallies with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders seeking votes for party candidate from Chamkaur Sahib constituency Justice (retd) Nirmal Singh at these gatherings.
The ruling party leaders, including Badal, Anandpur Sahib MP Prem Singh Chandumajra and education minister Daljit Singh Cheema, not only sought votes for the local candidate, but also chose the occasion to launch a scathing attack on the opposition Congress.
The chief minister presented three large dummy cheques to the SAD candidate for the development of the area -- `10 crore cheque for various villages in the constituency and two cheques for `1.5 crore each for Morinda and Chamkaur Sahib. Interestingly, these dummy cheques not only carried the picture of the CM, but also that of the SAD candidate.
Badal sought to woo the voters by announcing to upgrade Morinda as sub-division. He also announced to upgrade the government high school in Mani Majra village in Chamkaur Sahib to a senior secondary school and agreed to rename the government dairy training institute at Chatamali after the Sikh warrior Jassa Singh Ramgarhia.
The CM also granted `20 lakh for the repair and upkeep of the dilapidated building of the government high school in Morinda.
Earlier, Badal laid the foundation stone of the 16.35-km Morinda-Chunni road.
Meanwhile, he sought to placate former minister Satwant Kaur Sandhu, who was denied SAD ticket from Chamkaur Sahib, by announcing to appoint her as party’s senior vice-president.
He said those who would side with the Congress would justify the “atrocities on Punjabis in general and the Sikhs in particular by way of attacking the Golden temple and the Akal Takht at the behest of the then Congress government” at the Centre.