People of Punjab desperately looking for change: Yogendra

Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav today hit out at the ruling Akali-BJP government in Punjab and claimed that there was growing anger among the people of the state against the ruling dispensation and they were now desperately looking for a viable alternative.
"What we have witnessed is growing anger and hatred against the present government. I have been a professional student of politics, and I have never come across a government which is hated so much by its own citizens as this government is. People are desperately looking for a way out," Yadav said while interacting with reporters here.
"Unfortunately, what people get are alternatives that they might be different in names, but not different in substance. They get alternatives which practice same kind of politics, same kind of personality, family-driven politics, same kind of Delhi durbar driven politics. There is no true alternatives available in Punjab," he added.

Yadav, whose Swaraj Abhiyan has been very active on the farmers front for last several months including in Punjab, further said, "We think it is the responsibility of all those forces who want to create a genuine alternative to come together and provide a true alternative.."
Asked about AAP's claims of having a strong footing in Punjab ahead of the 2017 assembly polls, Yadav said, "..The important question is what Punjabis need; an alternative which is truly different from the current dispensation, both in terms of its substantive policies and also in terms of the way in which it conducts its politics. In both those ways, I do not see AAP substantially different from the Akalis."

"I do not know, for example, what is the agricultural policy of the AAP. I do not know if their individualism is different from individualism of Mr Badal (Chief Minister). The one way in which they are different is that Durbar of Akali party is in Punjab, their Durbar is in Delhi".
Accompanied by AAP's suspended Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi, Yadav said the parliamentarian is also lending support to the cause which they have taken up in Punjab, which is to get justice for the cotton farmers affected by the pest white fly attack.
"Dr Gandhi is an independent, credible voice of fairness and truth. He, as you know, is not a part of Swaraj Abhiyan. He has taken his own independent position on the plight of cotton farmers in Punjab. He raised the issue in Parliament, he also went and met the affected farmers.