Former AICC president Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal slugged it out on Tuesday in a no-holds-barred election campaign in Punjab ahead of the Feb 20 voting in the state.
Rahul termed Kejriwal a liar who believed in misleading the people by making false promises and giving doles. "AAP is the party which started the culture of freebies, destroying the public exchequer," he said.
Rahul claimed that AAP is linked to the RSS and was the B team of the BJP. It believed in the politics of religion and communalism. "It was the first to notify the three anti-farmer laws introduced by the Modi government," he said.
He mocked Kejriwal for his habit to seek an apology after making vague allegations against various leaders.
Coming down heavily on the mohalla clinics in Delhi set up by the Kejriwal government, Rahul said that the health facilities in the capital had collapsed during the Covid wave. People died due to a lack of oxygen cylinders and ventilators.
Kejriwal's claim about improving the education system in Delhi, too, was hollow, Rahul alleged and added that thousands of teachers were protesting against the Delhi government for its inability to pay salaries in time.
Kejriwal, on the other hand, asked Rahul to explain why he named a tainted person like Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief ministerial candidate. "Who will explain the source of Rs 10 crore cash seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from the residence of a nephew of Channi?" the AAP supremo questioned.
Kejriwal said, “Rahul should make his stand clear on the controversial Satluj-Yamuna link canal. It was Indira Gandhi, the late Prime Minister, who gave Punjab waters to Haryana. Congress, BJP, and Akali Dal indulged in politics over the river waters issue,” he added.
The AAP convenor said Rahul was inexperienced and could not control the infighting in the Punjab Congress. There were allegations from within the party that tickets were allotted to people connected with sand, liquor, and real estate mafias, he added.
