Stubble burning: AAP govt fails miserably, no strategy to deal with issue, says Jakhar

BJP leader Sunil Jakhar Thursday targeted the AAP leadership including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for its hypocrisy over stubble burning, saying the party has failed miserably in evolving a strategy to deal with the issue.In a statement issued here, Jakhar pointed out until last year, the Delhi chief minister was directly blaming the then Punjab government and the state farmers for stubble burning to shift the blame while now when its his own partys government in the state and the AAPs stand has very conveniently changed.

BJP leader Sunil Jakhar Thursday targeted the AAP leadership including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for its “hypocrisy” over stubble burning, saying the party has failed miserably in evolving a strategy to deal with the issue.

In a statement issued here, Jakhar pointed out until last year, the Delhi chief minister was directly blaming the then Punjab government and the state farmers for stubble burning to shift the blame while now when it's his own party's government in the state and the AAP's stand has very conveniently changed. “AAP's doublespeak has been exposed and in spite of acting cohesively to work out some solution to help farmers, their leaders are busy looking to invent one lame excuse or another,” Jakhar added.

People of Punjab have seen through AAP's “gimmicks” and they now know this party has nothing to offer on ground, he said.

The BJP leader said the AAP only believes in levelling false allegations to stay in news, while there is nothing concrete to show on the ground as far as any work done by the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab is concerned. The Modi government has already provided funds to Punjab for machines to manage stubble, but the state government has not even bothered to ensure proper utilisation of these funds and no machines have been made available to farmers who are being left with no choice but to burn the crop residue, claimed the former MP. Lambasting the state government's decision to suspend employees for dereliction of duty, Jakhar said it has only been done to hide the “devastating failure” of the state government to plan a policy to tackle the sensitive issue.

Taking potshots at the Kejriwal government's desperation to advertise at the cost of public, the BJP leader said it is ironic that whereas only Rs 68 lakh have been spent on bio decomposers to tackle stubble, the Delhi government “splurged” as much as whopping Rs 23 crore on advertisements. The decomposers, though, have failed in Delhi and Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has also not recommended its use, Jakhar said.

“Need of the hour is for Delhi and Punjab governments to join heads and try to come out with a solution while purposefully utilising funds provided by the Centre for the said purpose,'' Jakhar said.