Sanaure:
The head of the Punjab Congress, Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Thursday targeted former Prime Ministers Parkash Singh Badal and Amarinder Singh for allegedly “looting” the state for the past 25 years.
He accused the previous governments headed by Mr Badal and Mr Singh for leaving the state heavily indebted.
“For 25 years, two prime ministers have looted Punjab,” Sidhu said at a meeting in Sanaur.
“They (Parkash Singh Badal, Amarinder Singh) left the state in such a situation that the young people don’t want to stay here,” he claimed, referring to young people’s preference to go abroad.
The Congress leader said Punjab is heavily indebted.
The state is not generating enough revenue to cover the total expenditure of Rs 1.40 lakh crore. It pays Rs 30,000 crore as interest on debt, he claimed.
Mr Sidhu said the Center’s GST compensation will stop in June next year and it will contribute to the state’s budget deficit.
He also stressed the need to empower panchayats in the state and said this can be done with the implementation of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment which aimed to allow gram panchayats to operate as self-governing units.
Sidhu said his Punjab governance model will implement the 73rd Constitutional Amendment to give powers to sarpanches.
Without the approval of panchayat secretaries, village chiefs have no power to work for the welfare of villages, he lamented.
Later, Mr. Sidhu raised the issue in a series of tweets.
“Punjab Model will revive the legendary vision of Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji and empower the panchayats… Free them from the clutches of officers, decentralize power, return resources to the people by ensuring self-reliance of villages. This is the basis of our pyramid of democracy,” he said.
The Congress leader said: “The Punjab model will pass the 73rd constitutional amendment introduced by Congress to fulfill Rajiv Gandhi Ji’s vision to strengthen the foundation of democracy through Panchayati Swaraj…12581 Panchayats will be given all 170 powers to work and 12 powers to collect taxes that they don’t currently have!”