Amarinder running away from reality: Badal

Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda, Apr 14 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said his predecessor Capt Amarinder Singh ''was now on the path of escapism and had no courage to face the reality''.

Addressing a political conference on the occasion of Baisakhi in this historical town, the Chief Minister sought to remind the people that Capt Singh was the same person who was browbeating everybody and implicating Akali leaders and workers in false cases.

He charged the Congress with creating a media hype that the SAD-BJP government was following the politics of vendetta. '' We have made it crystal clear to everybody that the law of the land would take its own course and there was no question of personal animosity, '' he added while refering to the Ludhiana City Centre scam in which Capt Singh is one of the accused.

The Chief Minister thanked the people of Punjab for giving a clear mandate in favour of SAD-BJP alliance and rejecting the arrogant and dictatorial policies of Congress Government.

He pointed out that the debacle of the SAD in the Malwa belt in the February assembly polls could not be attributed to the popularity of the Congress. The Punjab Congress chief Shamsher Singh Dullo had openly admitted that the Congress would have been wiped out in Malwa too had the Dera Sacha Sudha not supported the party, he added.

Mr Badal assured that all the aspirations of the people and the promises made in the SAD manifesto would be fulfilled in letter and spirit. He said the new government would usher in a new era of overall development and prosperity with focus on health, education, road communication infrastructure, information technology, trade and commerce etc.

On the occasion, Mr Badal announced a grant of Rs 1.5 crore to eradicate water logging in the Malwa belt and for the maintenance and repair of water channels in the state.

Earlier, Mr Badal was honoured with a 'siropa' by Takht Damdama Sahib. Jathedhar Balwant Singh Nandgarh.

UNI