DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Monday took a dig at Congress candidate from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, claiming he does not even know 10 villages of the seat and asked the voters not to vote for him. The Congress has fielded Khaira, who is an MLA from the Bholath assembly segment, from the Sangrur parliamentary constituency. Mann is a former MP from the constituency.

Khaira has to take the help of global positioning system (GPS) to reach Sangrur, said Mann, and appealed to the people not to let such a candidate win at any cost who does not even know about the people there.

Khaira does not even know the names of 10 villages of Sangrur and he has come to contest elections here, said Mann, while addressing a public meeting at Sunam in favour of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer.

Later, the Punjab chief minister also addressed an election meeting in Bathinda.

In his speech at Sunam, Mann said in 2014, he won from the Sangrur seat by over two lakh votes.

"But this time you have to set a new record by ensuring Meet Hayer's victory with a margin of at least 2.5 lakh votes," Mann asked the people.

The Punjab chief minister said, "Sunam is my 'karmabhoomi'. I used to bring crops here in the mandi to sell. I went to college here in Sunam.

"I know many people here by name even today. I am confident that the people of Sunam will only vote for the Aam Aadmi party," he said.

Mann also attacked the Badal family and said all its members have lost the elections. "Only Harsimrat Kaur Badal (contesting from Bathinda seat) is left. In this election, Harsimrat Kaur's security deposit is going to be forfeited from Bathinda. After that, all the members of the Badal family will be out of power," he said. Addressing the public meeting, Hayer said this is the first government of Punjab which has done more work than what it had promised to the people during the election campaign.

The Mann government set up a road safety force and it was not even one of its guarantees, said Hayer.

"We brought a private thermal power plant, brought canal water to every corner of Punjab and did many works like giving electricity to the farmers during the day. Whereas the political parties in the previous governments were not able to fulfil even five per cent of the promises they made to the people," said Hayer.

Meanwhile, Mann slammed the Badals and other opposition leaders, accusing them of looting the state.

He was addressing a public gathering in Bathinda in favour of AAP candidate Gurmeet Singh Khuddian.

"You've defeated stalwarts like Parkash Singh Badal here. It is time to throw Harsimrat Badal out of Parliament too," said Mann.

He said she was part of the cabinet of the Modi government which approved the "anti-farmer" bills, and the entire Badal family including Parkash Singh Badal defended these bills.

Later when they witnessed the farmers' opposition, they took a U-turn, he said.

"This area used to be a stronghold of dynastic politicians but now the times have changed. You defeated all of them and elected the common people," he said.

Attacking the BJP, Mann said the people are not allowing their leaders to enter the villages. He said after the farmers were not allowed to head towards Delhi in support of their demands, they are now not letting the BJP leaders enter the villages. Polling for 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held in the last phase of elections on June 1.
(editor@dailyworld.in)