Amritsar, 17 August: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh lashed out at Akali leaders Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal for misleading the people of the state on crop loan waiver, GST on Langar, and other issues, and challenged them to list out a single meaningful achievement of their party’s rule in the state. Chief Minister told media, after inaugurating the Partition Museum, that the Akalis, in the 10 years of their rule, had brought the state to its knees. Sukhbir and his coterie had ruined the state and its assets, thus depriving Punjab of its pristine pride and glory, he said.
Captain Amarinder hit out at Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir for questioning the Congress Government’s four-month rule, challenging him to explain what they had done for Punjab in the past decade. To a question on GST exemption on Langar and Prasad, Capt. Amarinder said that he had taken up this issue with the Union Finance Minister and would pursue the same. The matter pertained to the Centre and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal should get the langars exempted from GST instead of putting the onus on the State Government, he added.
In response to a question on the T Haq committee report, the Chief Minister pointed out that his government had already waived off debts of 10.25 lakh small and marginal farmers in the state. The Haq Committee was now working on some other key issues concerning the farming community and would soon submit its final report.
