SAD president Sukhbir Badal releases joint manifesto for upcoming Punjab Assembly Election 2022 with BSP leader Randhir Benipal. (Express Photo)
Free power, debt waiver, monthly doles & more: its raining promises in Punjab
Considering that the freebies attract voters, the political parties are leaving no stone unturned. Leading with these announcements are Kejriwal and Channi. Kejriwal had earlier announced that all women, above 18 years of age, would be given Rs 1,000 every month if the state elected an AAP government.
His announcement sparked off a debate as there are about 1.10 crore women voters in Punjab, a state which is already burdened with a subsidy of over Rs 10,000 crore on power. The proposed sop would mean an expenditure of similar scale for Punjab, which is having a debt of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore.
Behind Mau switch for Mukhtar’s son, SP bid to ‘avoid criminal tag’
By getting jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s 29-year-old son Abbas Ansari to file nomination from the Mau constituency as a candidate of its ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) instead of his father, the Samajwadi Party (SP) seems to have made a bid to avoid being branded a “party of the mafia”. Currently lodged in Banda jail, Ansari is Mau’s sitting MLA.
In their election campaigns, top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have relentlessly targeted the SP for “giving tickets to criminals” – an allegation denied by SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who, in turn, has leveled a similar counter-allegation at the BJP.
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