Balachaur/Samrala, January 9: With Assembly elections still two years away, the Congress sharpened its attack on the BJP and the AAP through its ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’, as massive turnouts were reported at rallies held in Balachaur and Samrala on Friday.
Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is the Congress’ Punjab in-charge, said the party would restore MGNREGA once it returns to power in the state. “After 2027, the Congress government in Punjab will ensure special provisions to bring the scheme back,” he said.
Baghel accused the BJP-led Centre of deliberately weakening the employment guarantee programme. “The government wants to dismantle MGNREGA. Funds that were earlier decided at the village level are now controlled from Delhi,” he alleged, adding that the Centre was working “only for a chosen few”.
Punjab Congress chief Raja Warring said both the BJP and the AAP had failed the poor. “The BJP has undermined MGNREGA, while the AAP could not implement it properly even when it was in power,” he said.
Rejecting speculation about factionalism, Warring said the party was united. “We are not fighting over posts. I am not a Chief Ministerial aspirant. Our fight is to reclaim Punjab,” he said.
Referring to women voters, Warring reminded them of the Congress decision to make bus travel free. “We delivered free bus travel, while the AAP made a false promise of Rs 1,000,” he told the gathering.
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said MGNREGA was a landmark legislation brought by the Congress after consultations across party lines. “Even the parliamentary committee that examined it was chaired by a BJP leader,” he said.
Bajwa alleged that law and order had collapsed under the AAP government. “Gangsters are roaming freely. The Congress will eliminate them within a month, just as terrorism was eliminated earlier,” he claimed.
He also accused the AAP leadership of interfering in religious institutions and questioned Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s performance. “Instead of questioning the SGPC, the Chief Minister should answer what he has done for Punjab in the last four years,” Bajwa said.
