Badal accuses CM of abdicating his resp towards Pbis by failing to approach Railways minister

Chandigarh, (Gurpreet) – Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today accused chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh of abdicating his responsibility towards Punjabis by failing to approach Railways minister Piyush Goyal to restart freight train services to the State and asserted Capt Amarinder was indulging in shadow boxing to ensure no solution was worked out to the benefit of the people of Punjab.

In a statement here, the SAD President asked the chief minister to tell Punjabis why he had not led an official delegation to meet the Railways minister or sent an official ministerial delegation to hold talks on resumption of train services to Punjab. He said instead of doing this, two batches of Congress mps met the Railways minister separately and achieved nothing. “It seems the chief minister is not interested in any resolution to the ongoing crisis as the MPs could not have taken any decision on part of the Punjab government. This shows his seriousness towards the State which is in danger of going dark at a time when the wheat crop is to be sowed. Farmers are already suffering due to shortage of fertilizers even as trade and industry is at a standstill. Capt Amarinder Singh however seems totally unaffected by all this suffering and is content holding a sham protest to play politics on an issue which concerns the future of Punjabis”.

Stating that the chief minister was taking all decisions as part of a game plan, Mr Sukhbir Badal said the former had earlier refused to implement his suggestion and move a Bill in the Vidhan Sabha to make the entire State a single Mandi. “Now he is refusing to meet either the Railways minister to ensure train services are restarted in Punjab or meet the Prime Minister to resolve the grievances of the farming community. All this means that the chief minister is working as per a plan to defame the farmer organizations and playing into the hands of the centre which has not lifted the railway blockade despite clear cut announcements from farmer organizations that they have lifted their ‘rail roko’ agitation”.

Mr Badal said in such a situation, Capt Amarinder Singh would be solely responsible for the resultant social and economic unrest in the State. “The chief minister will also be responsible for the loss caused to the farming community which is in urgent need of fertilizers as well as the trade and industry which is suffering huge losses because of standstill in transport of raw materials as well as finished products. The chief minister will also be directly responsible for all power outages and the resultant suffering they will cause to the people of the State”, Mr Badal added.