Amit Shah Slams AAP: 'Punjab Turned Into ATM of Corruption'

Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal of transforming Punjab into an 'ATM of corruption' to fund his legal battles. At a rally supporting BJP's Ravneet Singh Bittu, Shah criticized the AAP and Congress, alleging widespread corruption and false promises. He urged voters to support BJP for Punjab's development.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah alleged on Sunday that AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has turned Punjab into an ''ATM of corruption'' to pay the legal fees for his court cases.

Asking people to ensure the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates in the Lok Sabha polls, he also claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will not last long after the saffron party's poll triumph.

Addressing his first Lok Sabha poll rally in Punjab in support of Ravneet Singh Bittu, the BJP candidate from Ludhiana, Shah said those who killed Bittu's grandfather, former chief minister Beant Singh, will not be forgiven. However, he did not take any name.

Beant Singh was assassinated in a terror attack in 1995. Balwant Singh Rajoana is a death-row convict in the case and lodged in the Patiala Central Jail. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has been seeking the release of several Sikh prisoners, including Rajoana.

Hitting out at the Congress and the AAP, Shah said the two parties hug each other elsewhere but turn enemies in Punjab.

''You have an alliance in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat, then why are you playing this fixed match here?'' he asked the two parties.

The AAP and the Congress, constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), have a seat-sharing pact in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls but are contesting the election separately in Punjab.

Targeting the AAP government in Punjab, Shah alleged that the state has been turned into a ''den of corruption''.

''Kejriwal has to fight his case and needs to pay (legal) fees. He gets it from the 'Punjab ATM'. He has turned Punjab into an ATM of corruption. He has to fight elections, so he puts the 'Mann credit card' into the ATM and takes money to Delhi,'' he said.

The BJP leader said wherever the Delhi chief minister goes, Mann accompanies him. ''I do not understand, is he Kejriwal's pilot or the Punjab chief minister? But one good thing that Mann did is when Kejriwal went to jail, he did not accompany him,'' he added.

Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in money-laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor scam and sent to Tihar Jail.

Taking a swipe at Mann, a stand up comic-turned politician, Shah said, ''This is Punjab. Yeh mardo ka pradesh hai. Doing comedy is one thing and setting it right is another. It is not in your capacity.'' He slammed the Punjab government for borrowing more than Rs 50,000 crore in the last two years.

''Earlier, the Congress and the Akali Dal did this and now, Mann is doing the same,'' he said.

Shah also took potshots at the AAP government over its promise of giving a monthly amount of Rs 1,000 to each woman in Punjab.

''Has anyone got it? They talked of making Punjab drugs-free within a month. Did they do it? They were to make a budget provision and start 16 medical colleges. Did that happen? Not even one such college has opened,'' he said.

Slamming the Congress, Shah alleged that the party has always tried to inflict wounds on Punjab.

''After independence, it gave the wound of partition, then instability, it let terrorism flourish and now, it is promoting separatism,'' he alleged.

The home minister also targeted the Congress over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

''The Congress and the AAP are plunging Punjab into the fire of drugs,'' he alleged while asserting that in Narendra Modi's third term as prime minister, ''we will uproot the drugs menace from the state''.

Shah said 17 narcotics control bureaux have been readied in the state and added that he will further take the ''issue forward during the Modi government's third term''.

''Punjab is a border state. We will not let it fall prey to the drugs menace. We will not let it burn in the fire of terrorism once again,'' he said.

Modi ended terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir by scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution, Shah claimed.

''Those who talk of terrorism in Punjab, they should listen with open ears. Stay away from this, otherwise we will not spare anyone. This is my promise to the people of Punjab,'' he said.

Referring to the Centre's Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Shah alleged that it is not being implemented in Punjab because the state government is not making payments for it.

Calling the Punjab government a ''jhola-chhap'' government, he said Mann is busy pasting Kejriwal's photo on the foodgrain packages meant to be delivered to the poor.

Asking people to ensure the victory of the BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha polls, Shah said, ''The Bhagwant Mann government will not last long after the BJP's victory.'' He said for Punjab's development, ending separatism and the drugs menace, bringing industry back to the state and strengthening Hindu-Sikh unity, Modi needs the support of people.

Exuding confidence that the BJP will win more than 400 seats in the ongoing polls, Shah said on June 1 (when the final phase of polling is scheduled to be held), Kejriwal will return to jail while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will go to Bangkok on a vacation on June 6.

''On one side is Rahul baba who would go to Bangkok and Thailand, on the other side is Modi who celebrates Diwali among armymen,'' he said.

Calling the INDIA opposition bloc ''ghamandiya'' (arrogant), Shah accused the Congress and the AAP of perpetrating scams and corruption worth Rs 12 lakh crore.

The home minister also reiterated that ''Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is ours, will remain ours and we will surely take it''.