India News | AAP Came to Power in Punjab by Selling Lies: Cong Leader Sidhu Ahead of Jalandhar Lok Sabha Bypoll

Chandigarh, Apr 22 (PTI) Ahead of the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu Saturday accused the AAP dispensation in Punjab of patronizing the liquor and sand mafia in the state and also alleged that the party came to power by "selling lies".

He also alleged that the Bhagwant Mann government has increased the state's debt burden with fresh borrowings to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore.

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The Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll slated for May 10 was necessitated following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January.

The Congress has fielded Chaudhary's wife Karamjit Kaur for the bye-election while the ruling AAP has nominated Sushil Rinku.

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Addressing reporters in Jalandhar, Sidhu alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party came to power in Punjab by "selling lies" to the people. "Today, the people of Punjab are feeling cheated," he alleged.

Sidhu alleged the AAP government has not implemented its poll promise of providing Rs 1,000 per month to women of the state.

The AAP had claimed that it would wipe out the drug menace within a month of coming to power. But now Punjab is in a "sea of drugs", said the cricketer-turned-politician who was released from the Patiala Central Jail on April 1 after being incarcerated for nearly 10 months in a 1988 road rage case.

Hitting out the ruling party, he said the AAP had promised to end liquor cartels. But now, the liquor syndicate in liquor has raised prices by 25 per cent, the former Congress MLA alleged.

"You are the patron and chief of this mafia. You are their (mafia) facilitator," he alleged targeting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

On the electricity issue, Sidhu said, "When you made electricity free (up to 300 units), did you tell people that you will mortgage power utility PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Limited)? PSPCL owes Rs 20,000 crore to banks."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)