A day after SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal challenged former chief minister Amarinder Singh to mention just five achievements when he was at the helm, Congress today dismissed the Akali leader's demand as "contemptible and unworthy" of consideration.
"Sukhbir Badal's demand for Amarinder Singh to list out the achievements of his tenure as chief minister is contemptible and unworthy," several state Congress leaders maintained.
The Punjab Congress today also released a 10-point "chargesheet" detailing the alleged serious failures of the Akali government on various fronts.
Taking a dig at Sukhbir for his "selective amnesia", the Congress leaders said the deputy chief minister had asked this question on earlier occasions too and Amarinder had, in fact, submitted a detailed response in the state Assembly.
"Sukhbir's demand that Amarinder should again come out with a list of his achievements is ridiculous and not worth responding to," the PPCC leaders said, claiming the PPCC president's achievements as Chief Minister not limited to just five but exceed 100.
Yesterday, Sukhbir had launched a scathing attack on Amarinder, asking whether he was feeling "ashamed" to talk about his tenure in the state by maintaining a "complete silence" about it.
He had challenged Amarinder to mention just five things or achievements when he was the Punjab CM.
Congress leaders said Akali government was in the docks over its all-round failure during its 9-year rule.
Citing the "failures" of the Badal government, Punjab Congress senior vice-president Laal Singh and party MLAs Kewal Singh Dhillon and Rana Gurjit Singh said the Akalis had allegedly "meticulously and shamelessly plundered" Punjab, plunging it into a state of total anarchy, with not an iota of development to claim.
"The corrupt leadership of the Akali-BJP combine had chipped away the state's glorious legacy to leave a trail of disaster, which had impacted every individual and destroyed many families," the Congress leaders alleged in a release here.
Punjab Congress leaders said they were sharing only ten
"glaring instances of the total failure of the Badal government on various fronts, though the list was actually endless".
"From its per capita income to the GSDP, economic parameters in Punjab have been on a downslide since the Akalis took over the government reins. From number 7 in 2007, the per capita income ranking slipped to 15 in 2015. The state's current debt burden is Rs 1.25 lakh core.
The state has actually witnessed de-industrialisation in the past 10 years, with industrial growth going down from 21.5 per cent in 2007 to 2.1 per cent in 2015. In contrast to other states, Punjab had received no concessions or tax holidays to woo industry," they claimed.
On the unemployment issue, they claimed "not only has the Akali government failed to deliver on its promise, made in November 2015, of giving 1.13 lakh jobs to youth within six months, but the youth unemployment rate is continuously going up (it was 16.6 per cent as of 2014)."
Touching on the drugs issue, they alleged "widespread sale and use of drugs has destroyed an entire generation of youth in Punjab. Official data shows that as many as 67 per cent of the households in Punjab have at least one drug addict, with 76 per cent of all drug addicts belonging to the 18-35 age group, according to 2014 figures".
On alleged Dalit atrocities, they said, "the recent gruesome murder of a Dalit youth in Gharanghna village in Mansa at the hands of the liquor mafia is a small example of how atrocities against Dalits, who constitute 32 per cent of the state''s population, have gone up under the SAD rule."
On farmers' issue, they said, "the anti-farm sector policies of the Badal government have ruined the agriculture sector, pulling growth down from 4 per cent in 2007 to 0.5 per cent in 2014-15. The spate of farmer suicides in the state in recent months is also a matter of serious concern."
They said that law and order situation in the State was deteriorating with each passing day.
"All kinds of crime, including murder, rape, abduction etc., have gone up during the rule of the Badals, who have unleashed a jungle raj in the state, with criminals enjoying the patronage of Akali leaders. Crime against women has doubled in the state from 2007 to 2014," they alleged.
The border areas have particularly been at the receiving end of the Badal government's anti-people policies, with infrastructure in the region in complete shambles, the Congress leaders claimed.
"These examples are only a tip of the iceberg and the situation on the ground is much worse than is reflected in this data," said the PPCC leaders, asking Sukhbir if he could cite even a single instance of development taking place in the state under the Akali government.
