Punjab rural polls: Support SAD to kickstart development, says Sukhbir Singh Badal

Gidderbaha, Dec 11 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday appealed to the people here to extend their wholehearted support to the party candidates for the December 14 zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections, saying it will pave the way for kickstarting development in the area.

Addressing a public gathering in support of party candidates, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief said, "The SAD and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal are responsible for ushering in all the development in this constituency. Besides infrastructure projects, Badal also got rid of waterlogging." He further said voting for his party's candidate would be "a befitting homage to the memory of the late leader".

Badal claimed that the Congress chief ministers in the last 60 years had failed in bringing development projects. "I challenge the Congress to tell me one thing they did for the state or one major facility they gave to the farmers or the poor," he said.

The SAD leader claimed that the current chief minister -- AAP’s Bhagwant Mann -- was also the same and said that, in contrast, Parkash Singh Badal had established thermal plants, universities, cancer institutes and world-class memorials during his 22 years in power.

Badal also said if his party forms the next government in Punjab, it will ensure housing for all, besides increasing the benefits under the old-age pension.

"We will also come up with revolutionary ideas to give employment to our youth by making it mandatory for the industry to hire Punjabis. We will safeguard our land by banning outsiders from purchasing it," he said.

The elections for the zila parishad and panchayat samitis in Punjab are scheduled for December 14, with vote counting to occur three days after the polls. PTI CHS PRK PRK