Chandigarh: The Punjab Congress has targeted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for allegedly using the official calendar and diary for its own propaganda. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann recently released the calendar for 2023, carrying his picture on the cover and detailing projects initiated by the ruling party in the state.
"Punjab is known as the land of seers. Instead of using pictures of religious places, the AAP government has used the medium for self-propagation," state unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said. He said the Chief Minister had allowed the use of his picture. "The AAP is doing everything opposite of what it had promised. For the first time, we will have the Chief Minister's picture in official diaries. No government has done it before," said Warring.
Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira criticized the Chief Minister on this issue on his Twitter handle. "He @BhagwantMann use to repeatedly make fun of Badals and Capt for putting their photos on government schemes like ambulances, cycles, etc but he has broken their record of cheapness to now paste his picture on the 2023 government diary which no CM had done before! Typical politician changing colors!" he said in a tweet.
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Social activist Manik Goyal tweeted, "AAP has hit a new low in the 75 years of Punjab's history." While several politicians and activists are criticizing the issue, different kinds of memes are also being created on social media regarding the CM's picture.
When Bhagwant Mann was sworn in as the Chief Minister, he issued orders to all the government offices that no one would post his photo in the offices. Government offices used to have only two photographs - one of Bhagat Singh, and the other of Dr. BR Ambedkar. However, now the official diary of the Punjab government carries his picture on the cover.
