Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, on Monday, asked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal to tell Punjabis where the Rs 50,000-crore purported investment had been made in Punjab.

Reacting to Kejriwal’s statement that Punjab had received an investment of Rs 50,000 crore, the SAD leader said he should substantiate this claim orapologise to Punjabis for lying to them.

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He said forgot to attract any investment, Punjab had witnessed state industry shifting to Uttar Pradesh and other states under the AAP regime. “The chief minister has tried to mislead the Punjabis by asserting that German companies like BMW are going to invest in the state. Even after an official rebuttal by the BMW, Kejriwal is making similar claims to fool the people,” Badal said.

On the AAP’s claim that Punjab was at the number two position nationally as far as the maintenance of law and order was concerned, the SAD leader said Punjabis know the truth. “Gangsters are having a field day and even AAP legislators are hand in gloves with criminal elements and the drug mafia due to which Punjab is suffering from the breakdown of law and order along with a sharp increase in the drug menace,” he added.

Badal said the state CM demoralised the police force by taking action against an honest police officer who had taken a tough stand against illegal mining and arrested the brother-in-law of the Khadoor Sahib legislator. He also quoted NCRB data to claim 310 youth had succumbed to drug overdoses in Punjab during the AAP regime.

The SAD chief said all sections of society were being discriminated against in the AAP regime with farmers not being paid compensation for repeated crop losses, outsiders being hired instead of Punjabi youth for government jobs, and closure of virtually all social welfare benefits.

He said despite not doing anything for the people the AAP government had borrowed an unprecedented Rs 50,000 crore. “This money is being spent on advertising AAP across the country besides providing luxuries to Kejriwal like a ten-seater jet aircraft,” Badal added.