With former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal asking Amarinder Singh to fulfill his poll promises before holding a rally in Lambi (Badal’s constituency) later this month, the Punjab CM on Tuesday said the former CM’s demand for the development of his own constituency shows the Akali leader’s ‘myopic view towards the state’s progress’.

Reacting to Amarinder announcement on holding a rally in Lambi later this month in order to expose the former CM over sacrilege cases, Badal had said since the Punjab CM had unsuccessfully contested against him in Lambi constituency, he should come to Lambi with gifts for the people in the form of promises fulfilled.

Responding to this, Amarinder said that unlike the SAD veteran, he was the CM not just of Lambi but all of Punjab, even though he had the highest respect for the people of Lambi.

Badal continues to view Lambi as the only constituency in the state which deserves development, said Amarinder in response to questions by reporters, lambasting the former CM for his desperate and futile attempts to mislead the people and divert their attention from his own misdeeds of 10 years.

It was evident that Badal was only striving to further his own political ambitions by seeking sops for Lambi at the cost of the development of the rest of the state, he added.

Pointing out that Badal had not sought gifts for any other region of Punjab in the past 18 months, Amarinder said it showed that the former CM was least concerned about the people of the state except for those whom he needed for his election.

The CM said he would soon visit Lambi to address the development requirements of the area but, at the same time, he would ensure finalisation and execution of development plans for every part of the state.

In response to a question about the poll promises fulfilled by his government, Amarinder said within two days of coming to power; his Council of Ministers had approved 117 decisions to implement the promises made in the Congress manifesto.

Of these,70 had been fully implemented and 11 were in the process of implementation, he said, challenging Badal to reveal the number of poll promises fulfilled by his government in the first year of coming to power in 2012.

Giving details of some of the important promises fulfilled by his government, Amarinder said debt relief totaling Rs 1735 crore had been provided to more than three lakh farmers.

He said the next installment of Rs 314 crore would soon be released for marginal farmers who had availed loans from commercial banks. This, Amarinder said, was in sharp contrast to the erstwhile SAD-BJP Government which had never given any direct subsidy or relief to the farmers of the state in the 10 years of their misrule.