Leader from Punjab will become CM after AAP wins polls: Punjab AAP President

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday said a leader from Punjab will be the chief minister of the state if the party wins the 2017 Assembly polls.

"AAP will win over 100 seats in the coming Assembly election in the state and a leader from Punjab will be the chief minister," the party's Punjab affairs in-charge, Sanjay Singh, said addressing a political conference at the Chapaar mela in Chapaar.

He accused the ruling Badal family in Punjab of blatantly using the government machinery to register false cases against the AAP leaders and volunteers.

"After the grand success of AAP's Baghapurana rally, the Akalis have become desperate and their attacks on AAP workers have increased," Singh alleged.

He said after the AAP forms the government in the state, all false cases against its leaders and volunteers will be withdrawn and the Badals, along with Punjab ministers Bikram Majithia and Tota Singh, will be put behind the bars.

Singh accused the other political parties of pursuing 'pariwarvad' (family rule) in the country and claimed that the AAP, under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, was committed to wiping out this practice from the Indian polity.

He accused the Badals of rampant corruption and patronising the drug mafia, land mafia, transport mafia, sand and gravel mafia, cable mafia etc, saying the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance government has ruined the state.

He also attacked the fourth front, recently launched by cricketer-turned-politician and former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, saying that it would not get any support from the people as the votes cast in its favour will help the "corrupt" Badals.

Addressing the gathering, AAP leader HS Phoolka accused the Badals of making false claims of being the saviour of the Sikh religion and alleged that they had done nothing for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and regarding the attack on Golden Temple. He also claimed that he had fought a legal battle for 25 years to get the culprits to book.

AAP co-incharge of Punjab affairs Jarnail Singh alleged that the Badals had been exploiting the religious sentiments of the people for political gains but in reality, they had completely damaged the sanctity of religious institutions, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

Describing the desecration of Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib during the SAD rule as extremely shameful, he alleged that instead of nabbing the culprits, Badals' police killed two Sikh youths and till date, no police officer has been booked for resorting to firing on peaceful protesters.