Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday again lashed out at SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal for calling him a madman, saying he was mad because he was working for the welfare of the state, unlike the Akali leader who always thought of his "vested interests." It was the second time Mann slammed Badal for his remarks against him.
On June 15, Mann posted a purported video of Badal calling him a madman on Twitter. In the purported video, Badal could be heard saying, "(Surjit Singh) Barnala sahab remained (CM) for two and half years, (Parkash Singh) Badal sahab remained CM for 20 years, Captain Amarinder Singh remained for 10 years. Beant Singh for five years and now, who is 'pagal jiha' (like a madman), has completed one year."
Addressing a gathering here during a function to hand over job letters to 401 clerks and 17 junior engineers, the Chief Minister slammed the Shiromani Akali Dal chief for his remark. "Yes Sukhbir Badal ji, I am mad because I have not put any share in the bus mafia. I am mad who has no share in any sand mafia. I am mad who has no share in 'dhabas'. I am mad who never took a single penny from an industrialist," said Mann.
Mann further said he was insane because he has a passion for giving jobs to the state's youth, improving government schools, opening mohalla clinics and giving free electricity. He further said he was mad because he is working tirelessly for the state and not for his or his family's vested interests. Mann told Badal that he and his relatives got the chairs because of his father.
Whereas he is serving the state because of the love showered by the people of the state, said Mann. Hitting out at the rival leaders for mocking him for his previous profession, Mann asked whether his job was illegal. "Then who is Hans Raj Hans, Hema Malini, Paresh Rawal and Sunny Deol," he asked. Mann was a comedian and satirist before joining politics.
Slamming the opposition, he said they cannot digest the fact that people from common families have become MLAs. Attacking the leaders of the rival party, Mann said these leaders have put in efforts only for the sake of their families. These leaders promoted their progeny at the cost of the state, he said, adding that on the contrary, he is making sincere efforts to put the state back on a trajectory of high growth.
Mann said his predecessors never came out of their palatial palaces during their stints but he had been moving in every nook and corner of the state to usher in a new era of peace, progress and prosperity. The opposition parties with an established track record of anti-Punjab and anti-Punjabi stances have always meted out huge losses to the state by jeopardising its progress and prosperity, said Mann.
Whenever these parties were in power they had safeguarded the interests of each other, but ever since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government assumed the charge of the office, their nefarious designs to loot the state in alternative terms have foiled, he added. Mann said the state government has in a period of around one year handed over 29,684 government jobs to the youth of the state and more such employment opportunities are in the pipeline. (PTI)
