Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa has said Partap Singh Kairon was the best chief minister of Punjab, hitting out at AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal for claiming that Bhagwant Mann is "the best". The two parties are part of the opposition INDIA alliance but their Punjab units are often at loggerheads and have indicated that they do not want any tie-up ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Bajwa was reacting to Kejriwal's remark during his recent visit to Punjab in which he had said Mann is proving to be "one of the best" chief ministers Punjab has produced. In a statement, Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Bajwa said, "In reality, it was the former chief minister from the Congress party, Partap Singh Kairon, who has been the best CM of Punjab so far."
Kairon was the chief minister of Punjab for around eight years till 1964. Bajwa added that it was entirely understandable that Kejriwal applauded Mann since he is the "poster boy" of the Aam Aadmi Party. "However, calling Mann the best CM of Punjab was a deceptive statement by Kejriwal," the Congress leader said.
"I would like to tell Kejriwal that Partap Singh Kairon was the best CM of Punjab. There is no comparison between the present Punjab CM and Partap Singh Kairon because a comparison cannot be drawn between chalk and cheese," he said. "They are poles apart as far as their vision, their working style, their contribution to the state, their education, etc. are concerned. There are a number of reasons to back this argument," Bajwa added.
He further said that Kairon was highly educated with two master's degrees from internationally acclaimed universities. "In contrast, Bhagwant Mann has only completed his 10+2. He did not complete his B.Com course from Shaheed Udham Singh Government College Sunam," Bajwa said.
Kairon before joining politics after Independence, was a peasant revolutionary with the Kirti group. However, Mann remained a comedian before he entered politics, said Bajwa. "Kairon established textile industries in Amritsar and Ludhiana and the dyeing industry at Panipat. He also set up the chemical fertiliser factory at Ropar as the electricity supply system for Bhakra," he said.
"... In the 18-month regime of Mann, industrialists fled from Punjab to sign MoUs with the Uttar Pradesh government," Bajwa claimed. The legislator also recalled Kairon's contribution to the education and health sectors in the state. "Yet, Bhagwant Mann promised to set up 16 medical colleges in Punjab in five years. Now even after 18 months of his tenure as CM, not even a single medical college has been constructed," he alleged. (PTI)
