Kejriwal, Mann to participate in ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Jind

Chandigarh: AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann will participate in a “Tiranga Yatra” in Haryana’s Jind district on Thursday, a party leader said on Wednesday.

AAP’s Haryana unit chief Sushil Kumar Gupta said the event is part of the party’s campaigning for the assembly elections in Haryana slated for next year. Gupta, who is a Rajya Sabha MP, said people of the state are looking for a “badlav” (change), which will come through the ‘Tiranga Yatra’. The AAP is the only viable alternative in the state, he added.

Flanked by senior AAP leaders from the state including Ashok Tanwar, Anurag Dhanda and Chitra Sarwara at a press conference here, Gupta alleged that corruption has flourished in the state under the BJP-JJP government. It is not a “gathbandhan” but a “thug bandhan”, he alleged. The “corrupt regime” will be ousted in the next year’s assembly polls in Haryana, Gutpa said, adding the people are fed up with the BJP-JJP alliance. Corruption prevailed in various spheres during the rule of the previous Congress regime too and it flourished more under the present BJP-led government, he alleged.

Replying to a question, Gupta said the AAP’s tie-up with Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Haryana was a “mistake”. “...We learnt from that mistake,” he said, referring to the tie-up that lasted only for a short period. Haryana’s all 10 Lok Sabha seats were won by the BJP in 2019. On the ‘Tiranga Yatra’, he said it will start from Jind, which is considered as the nerve centre of Haryana’s politics. Gupta lamented that many leaders began their political career from Jind and rose to top positions but neglected the area.

“When we come to power in Haryana, we will undertake development in the entire state,” he said. On the contentious Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue between Haryana and Punjab, the AAP leader said the water distribution is the job of the central government. Gupta also said the apex court earlier this year had told the Centre that being the main arbiter in water disputes between two states, it is required to play a more “pro-active role instead of being a mute spectator”.

He targeted the Haryana government for using force against the farmers during a protest in Kurukshetra’s Shahabad on Tuesday, saying they were only asking that the government should procure sunflower seeds at the minimum support price (MSP). Gupta claimed that far from making MSP of crops a legal guarantee, the BJP government is using “lathis” against the farmers for raising their demands. When asked why protesting farmers had blocked a key highway in support of their demand, he said, “I am saying such a situation should not come where farmers are forced to block the highway. The chief minister should have initiated talks with them earlier.”