Making a case for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led coalition government in Punjab, former Chief Minister and Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) president Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said as the state was confronted by multiple challenges which could be matched by a double engine government only.

Addressing public meetings in support of the PLC candidates, Farzan Alam from Malerkotla and Sardar Ali from Amargarh today, Amarinder said these elections were going to decide the future of Punjab and Punjab would benefit from the formation of PLC-BJP-SAD Sanyukt the coalition government in the state. The former CM said he was not against the people of Pakistan but against their rulers and the army who were fomenting trouble in India and killing India’s soldiers on the borders.

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He said, before independence about 40 percent population of Patiala was Muslim and most of them had migrated to Pakistan. He said, when he went there during his previous term as Chief Minister, he was honoured and felicitated by them.

Amarinder said he was for good relationships between the two countries, but the Pakistani Prime Minister and his army were being too hostile towards India, which was unacceptable.

On the Aam Aadmi Party’s choice of Chief Ministerial candidate, Amarinder said Bhagwant Mann is a good actor who amuses people and makes them laugh on television. But running the government is more serious business than amusing people or making them laugh, he said, while warning that Punjab needs a serious and mature leadership, which
can not only take care of the state’s security but also bring it out of the multiple problems it faces.

The former Chief Minister had a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for claiming that he had nominated a “poor” Chief Ministerial candidate. He said Charanjit Singh Channi was among the richest candidates fighting elections with properties worth hundreds of crores. He said, otherwise also, just being poor does not qualify you to be the CM.

Appealing to people to elect the PLC candidates for a better future, he reminded them that he had made Malerkotla a district and also announced to set up a medical college here. He promised to set up a university in the city once the BJP-PLC-SAD(S) government is formed in the state.