MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa symbol of nepotism: Arvind Kejriwal
In an event which was supposed to showcase the achievements of the AAP-led state government ahead of the Dera Baba Nanak bypoll, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann thought it prudent to spend a major part of their respective speeches to launch virulent attacks on Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
The MP’s wife, Jatinder Kaur Randhawa, is contesting on the Congress ticket.
The party’s hatred for a man who, ironically, is not even contesting the poll was much in evidence when Cabinet Minister Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal sowed the seeds of the slanging match. Later, Kejriwal and Mann took over from where Dhaliwal left.
The moment Kejriwal took to the mic, he declared that “the battle for Dera Baba Nanak was between an honest leader and a not-so-honest one”.
“On the one hand, you have an honest and authentic politician, Gurdeep Singh Randhawa, and on the other, you have a deceitful leader called Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. Gurdeep will work for your welfare, while Sukhjinder will work only for his family. The latter is an example of how nepotism works. His family dominates the political scene in Dera Baba Nanak. If Sukhjinder is not contesting an election, you will find his wife in the reckoning. If both of them are not there, you will find their son fighting an election,” said Kejriwal.
Observers were quick to point out that the party’s backroom boys had fed the wrong facts to Kejriwal as Sukhjinder’s son has never contested any poll till yet.
Late by nearly three hours, Kejriwal was hard pressed for time and hence kept his speech short. Apart from the rhetoric launched against Sukhjinder, Kejriwal promised that if the AAP candidate was voted to power, he would ensure that a sugar mill and a polytechnic gets established in the area. “The mill will give employment to the youth who are driven towards drugs just because they remain idle while the polytechnic will give youngsters a chance to enhance their skills. The Kartarpur corridor can be converted into a major religion-tourism hub, which can provide employment opportunities,” said Kejriwal.
He said if Gurdeep becomes an MLA, he would ensure there would be no shortage of funds to develop this border segment. “You give me the votes, I will give you money for projects,” he quipped.
The event was held at Agwan village. This was a strategic move on part of AAP leadership to garner the fundamentalist vote bank which till yet had been the domain of the Akalis. Agwan is the native village of Satwant Singh, one of the assassins of Indira Gandhi. It also has a gurdwara in his name.
