Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday, November 2, opened canal-based drinking water projects at a public meeting in Mandoli village of the Ghanaur constituency in Patiala district, and used the occasion to frame the 2027 Punjab Assembly election as a fight of 'one vs all', IANS and The Financial World reported.
Source: IANS via HiIndia, Nov 2
The chief minister said the new projects would give more than 5 lakh people in around 90,000 households a steady supply of clean canal water. Many villages in the area have groundwater with high fluoride and heavy-metal levels, he noted. 'We are not merely laying pipelines. Clean drinking water is a basic necessity, and every family has an equal right to it,' Mann said, according to The Financial World.
Source: The Financial World, Nov 2
Mann's 'one vs all' charge, attributed
Mann alleged — his claim, reported as his position — that the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP were 'deeply corrupt' parties that had joined hands to derail Punjab's development and protect their shared political interests. 'On one side are the BJP, Akali Dal and Congress, while on the other side I stand with the love and blessings of the people of Punjab,' he said. He said the three parties had different flags and election symbols but the same intention, and alleged they were uncomfortable because an ordinary family's son was working honestly for people's welfare. No response from the three parties to these specific remarks was carried in the reports Awaaz Punjab reviewed.
Mann named Manpreet Singh Badal, Sunil Jakhar and Ravneet Singh Bittu as former Congress leaders who had moved to the BJP, saying, as his characterisation, that such leaders changed sides for their own convenience. He also accused the Akali leadership of having taken a share in almost every business when it was in power — again, his allegation, not an established finding.
The chief minister said, as figures presented by him, that 882 government school students cleared NEET this year, up from 80 in 2021, and spoke about Aam Aadmi Clinics and the Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojana, under which eligible families will get health cover of up to Rs 10 lakh. He said farmers were now getting daytime power and more land was being irrigated with canal water, easing pressure on groundwater.
Warning the opposition, Mann said the people of Punjab would send its big leaders back home in 2027 just as they did in 2022, IANS reported. The Ghanaur address comes a day after three rebel AAP MLAs formally joined the BJP in New Delhi, sharpening the contest ahead of the 2027 polls.