Rs 25 crore, drugs spent on Congress rally in Ludhiana: SAD

Chandigarh, Nov 15 (UNI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today described the Ludhiana rally of the ruling Congress as ''a Rs 25 crore tamasha'' and a ''failed jamboree of tired Congressmen, hired hoodlums and drug peddlers and addicts.'' SAD General Secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a statement issued here that the ''utter failure and non-seriousness of the rally'' was evident from the fact that despite the rally being organised to conclude the chief minsiter's 'Vikas Yatra', none of the leaders present there spoke a word about development.

''The key issues of the people of Punjab like the farmers indebtedness, unemployment, price rise, traders' and industrialists' problems failed to find a place in the rallyists' agenda for future,'' Mr Sukhbir Badal said.

Alleging misuse of government machinery and massive amount of black money used for the rally, Mr Badal said the SAD had definite information on how black money worth over Rs 25 crore had been used to put together even this moderate gathering. He stated that the independent media reports had clearly shown how smack, opium and other dangerous drugs were freely distributed to attract crowds.

''Even after an unprecedented misuse of government machinery and corrupt money, the crowds failed even to fill the space earmarked for it and the whole show fell far short of SAD's Chandigarh rally which had actually sent shock waves in Congress camp,'' Mr Badal said.

If Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had honestly wanted to see where real Punjab was on the day of the rally, he should have broken the security cordon and gone across to meet the unemployed youth, health workers, veterinarians and others who had to face rough police treatment, the SAD leader stated.

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