Aam Aadmi Party’s chief ministerial candidate for Punjab Assembly polls, Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said the state needs an honest government with clear intentions and AAP will give such a government to the state as the party has a roadmap ready for the development of every sector.

Blaming Shiromani Akali Dal, Congress, Captain Amarinder Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the poor economic condition of Punjab, the AAP Punjab president said these traditional parties and political families have looted Punjab for the decades and used its resources, land and exchequer for their personal gains.

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Mann said under the rule of these parties Punjab was mired in debt of over Rs Three Lakh Crore, thousands of youth were killed due to drugs, people committed suicide due to poverty, farmers were burdened with debt and Punjab’s water, land and environment were looted.
He said that Covid induced Pandemic has made us face the bitter truth of Punjab’s deteriorating economic condition. During this time, the people of Punjab didn’t get any medical help from the government.

The AAP leader said no financial aid was provided to the people. He said for the first time in history, even Punjab’s per capita income fell below the national average. Where there was a 5.4 per cent fall in per-person income at the national level, Punjab faced a steep dip of 8.4 per cent in per capita income. Corrupt rulers have made Punjab incapable of facing any such challenges, Mann said.

The Member of Parliament from Sangrur said Punjab was a budget surplus state before the rules of Captain and Badal. “Punjab has fertile land and sufficient natural resources then today why Punjab has debt of 3 lakh crores, why every child born in Punjab has a debt of 1 lakh to his or her name? Because these families were hell-bent on looting Punjab and its people. They never had any plan to do anything for the betterment of the state,” said Mann.

He said the AAP government will implement a pro-Punjab Financial Model to make Punjab prosperous and a budget surplus state. He said Delhi’s Kejriwal government facilitates people and still Delhi is in a budget surplus.

Mann said corruption would be stopped in Punjab and people would be facilitated with this money in the form of best education, medical facilities, electricity, financial aid to the women and employment.