Badal holds 'myopic' view towards Punjab's progress: Amarinder

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Tuesday lashed out at his predecessor Parkash Singh Badal over his "demand for development" of Lambi, saying the Akali leader "patently held a myopic view" towards the state's progress.

Amarinder Singh was reacting to Badal's statement made on Monday in which the latter took a swipe, asking the chief minister to "come with armfuls of gifts" in shape of "promises fulfilled" during rally at the Lambi assembly constituency.

Badal's remarks were in response to Amarinder Singh's announcement to hold a rally at the former chief minister's home turf Lambi in the last week of September.

In a statement here, Amarinder on Tuesday said that unlike the SAD veteran, he was the chief minister not just of Lambi but of entire Punjab, adding he has the "highest respect" for the people of Lambi.

"Badal continues to view Lambi as the only constituency in the state which deserves development," Amarinder Singh said as he lambasted the former chief minister for his "desperate and futile" attempts to "mislead" the people and divert their attention from his own "misdeeds" of 10 years.

It was evident that Badal was only "striving to further his own political ambitions" by seeking sops for Lambi at the cost of the development of the rest of the state, Amarinder Singh said.

Pointing out that Badal had not sought gifts for any other region of Punjab in the past 18 months, Amarinder Singh said it showed that the former chief minister was the "least concerned" about the people of the state except for those whom he needed for his election.

The chief minister said he would soon visit Lambi to address the development requirements of the area but, at the same time, he would ensure finalization and execution of development plans for every part of the state.

In response to a question about the fulfilment of poll promises made by his government, the chief minister pointed out that within two days of coming to power, his council of ministers had approved 117 decisions to implement the promises made in the Congress manifesto.

Of these, 70 had been fully implemented and 11 were in the process of implementation, he said, challenging Badal to tell the number of poll promises fulfilled by his government in the first year of coming to power in 2012.

To buttress his claims on the fulfilment of promises, Amarinder said debt relief amounting to Rs 1,735 crore had been provided to more than three lakh farmers, and the next installment of Rs 314 crore would soon be released for marginal farmers who had availed loans from commercial banks.

This, he said, was in sharp contrast to the erstwhile "SAD-BJP government which had never given any direct subsidy or relief to the farmers of the state in the 10 years of their misrule".