DW BUREAU / Jalandhar/Chandigarh

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday campaigned for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Mohinder Bhagat in the Jalandhar West Assembly by-election. Mann addressed four consecutive public meetings here and appealed to the people to make AAP candidate Mohinder Bhagat win. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann along with AAP candidate Mohinder Bhagat addressed public meetings in Ward No. 32, 37, 47 and Ward No. 77 falling under Jalandhar West Assembly and addressed the people. Many other MLAs, chairmen and officials including Aam Aadmi Party Punjab in-charge Jarnail Singh and MLA Baljinder Kaur were present in the public meeting.

Addressing the people, the Chief Minister promised that you make our candidate win, whatever demand of yours Mohinder Bhagat will bring to me, I will sign and fulfill all of them. He said that if you make Mohinder Bhagat win and climb the ladder of the Assembly, I will take him to the next step. Mann was hinting at making Bhagat a minister.

Mann said that one good thing that happened in this election was that my wish to open an office in Jalandhar was fulfilled. I have rented a house in Jalandhar and opened my office for the work of the people of Doaba and Majha region. Now people will not have to go to Chandigarh to get their work done. The government itself is at your doorstep. Mann said that he will keep this house with him even after the elections and will be available for the people here at least two days a week.

Mann said that I want to change the compulsion of the people to their choice. Today it is a compulsion for the people to go to private schools for education and private hospitals for treatment. But I am working to remove this compulsion of the people of Punjab. We are turning the government schools of Punjab into Schools of Eminence where the children of the poor will get world-class education. Similarly, we are opening public clinics at various places and improving government hospitals, so that people can get good treatment for free. Soon it will be the choice of the people whether they want to go to government schools and hospitals or private ones.

Seeing the women who came to the public meeting, the Chief Minister said that your awareness in politics is a matter of great happiness. He said that just as a family cannot run properly without you, similarly the country cannot run properly without your participation. Therefore, do not run away from politics, but take part in it actively.

Mann attacked the Congress party and its candidate Surinder Kaur. He said that if she could not get the work of her ward done while being the Deputy Mayor of Jalandhar, then how will she get the work of such a big assembly constituency done? Mann said that the work of streets, drains and sewerage systems etc. comes under the Municipal Corporation. Currently, there is a Congress Mayor in Jalandhar Municipal Corporation, he did nothing for this. He did not even change the sewerage lid. He said that the one who could not get the work of her ward done, how will she get the work of the entire assembly done?

He said that voting for Congress means wasting your vote because victory or defeat in this election will not make any difference to the government, but if the Aam Aadmi Party candidate wins, you will get a share in the government, then the work of the people of this area will be done at a faster pace. Mohinder Bhagat will solve all the basic problems here including lanes, drains, roads, sewerage, electricity and street lights on priority basis. Mann said that our candidate Mohinder Bhagat is a very honest and sincere person. Bhagat is in his name and his nature is like a Bhagat too.

Mann also attacked BJP candidate Sheetal Angural and said that he has betrayed the people here. He said that he had difficulty in doing illegal work while being in the Aam Aadmi Party, so he went to the BJP because the BJP is the first choice of corrupt people these days. Mann appealed to the people and said that teach him such a lesson in this election that no MLA can dare to resign like this again.

Mann also attacked Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal. He said that the condition of Akali Dal Badal has become so bad that Sukhbir Badal is withdrawing support from his candidate and asking people to vote for the Bahujan Samaj Party. He said that Akali Dal has become zero in Punjab.

Mann said that our action against corruption causes a lot of problems to the leaders of the opposition parties, so Akali Dal, BJP and Congress have come together to defeat me because all three have looted Punjab together. He said that earlier all three parties used to rule Punjab in turns for five years each by making an agreement among themselves, but now people have got a third and honest option in the form of Aam Aadmi Party, so their formula has failed.
(editor@dailyworld.in)