Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann launched the party campaign in the state for the upcoming general elections, on Monday said that the party needed to win all the 13 seats, not for themselves but to serve people of the state.
Addressing a gathering in Mohali near here - which was attended by all ministers and MLAs of the ruling AAP government - Kejriwal said that the BJP did not want the votes of the people of Punjab as it had been claiming that it was getting 370 seats, but AAP needed them and that was why he had come here from Delhi to ask for the same.
Criticising the previous governments, Kejriwal said that earlier there was negativity everywhere in Punjab while today there was positivity as traders and industrialists were coming back, people were getting employment, temporary jobs were being regularised and new ``mohalla’’ clinics were being opened. Now the power supply was free for the people and they were getting electricity 24 hours a day and excellent government schools were being built, he claimed.
Attacking opposition MPs, Kejriwal asked where were these MPs when the Central government withheld Rs 8,000 crore from Punjab? When the Punjab tableau was stopped on January 26, where were the 12 MPs from other parties? He went on to add that while the AAP sole MP Sushil Rinku's voice was heard in the Lok Sabha, the remaining twelve MPs were never seen fighting for Punjab.
Mann in his address, appealed to the people of Punjab to give AAP all the 13 seats in the state and said that when all the MPs of the state would be of AAP, then the Central government would not be able to stop the funds of Punjab. He said that he had to fight alone with the Central government and the governor and if all the 13 MPs won the state’s stand would be strengthened.
