Mohali: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, in Mohali, Punjab, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann are also seen. (PIB/PTI Photo) The Opposition parties hit out at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for not raising the issues confronting Punjab with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was in Mohali Wednesday to inaugurate the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre. This was Modi’s first visit to Punjab after the Aam Aadmi Party stormed to power earlier this year.
While welcoming PM, Mann said, “I welcome you from the state government side. I expect you came to Punjab after a long time and you will announce some gifts for Punjab”. The PM, however, did not make any announcement for the state.
While it has been customary for the CMs in Punjab to seek industrial and agricultural packages as and when PM visits the state, Mann, who had presented the state’s case during Niti Aayog meeting chaired by Modi on August 7, did not submit any charter of demands. He also did not raise any issue in his address. Sources in the government said they were expecting the PM to make some announcement. “The CM had raised several issues in NITI Aayog meeting. However, there was no mention of those issues in PM’s speech today,” said a functionary.
Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha, Partap Singh Bajwa said people of Punjab should not have any expectations from “this CM who neither has the vision nor any leadership quality” to lead the state. “How can he not raise any issues when the PM is here? He lost an opportunity for the state,” said Bajwa. He also accused Mann of showing “narrow-mindedness” by not inviting the Opposition MLAs to the inauguration of the hospital.
Subscriber Only Stories
“As the Leader of Opposition. I strongly condemn the meanness of the AAP. It shows the lack of political maturity and bankruptcy of the AAP, which is otherwise trying hard to present itself as a substitute for the BJP at the Centre,” Bajwa said.
He said, as LOP he would have raised Punjab’s issues. Bajwa said he had earlier sought legalising of MSP, loan waiver for the marginal farmers, special industrial package for the state and reopening of Kartarpur corridor.
He said the foundation stone of the hospital was laid by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh on December 30, 2013. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal was the Punjab chief minister at that time.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring too said while it was good on the part of Mann to welcome PM
Modi and thank him for the inauguration of the hospital, he should also have acknowledged former PM’s contribution. “Actually it was a gift given by Manmohan Singh to Punjab,” Warring said.
The PCC president said it was a golden opportunity for Mann to raise some pressing issues which needed urgent attention of the Prime Minister. “But unfortunately it for the reasons best known to him,” Warring said, adding CM should have brought to Modi’s notice the issues of committee on the MSP and the farmers concern over Electricity Amendment Bill.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said it was state’s bad luck that the PM came visiting for the second time in eight months and both times Punjab’s issues could not be taken up. “Last time, it was the controversy regarding the security lapse. This time, the CM was not prepared. Punjab lost an opportunity today. When Parkash Singh Badal was the CM, he would prepare in advance about the issues concerning the state whenever the PM was to visit the state. We always got something from Centre,” said Cheema.
Former Congress minister-turned-BJP leader Dr Raj Kumar Verka also hit out at CM stating that had he put forth any demands, the PM would have given some assurance. “It all depends on the CM. Whatever he may have asked for, the PM would have heard him,” said Verka.
During the Niti Aayog meeting, Mann had presented the case of farmers underlining the need for making MSP a legal guarantee and ensuring foolproof marketing system for alternative crops.
Mann had stated that agriculture was no longer a profitable venture and the farmers were facing a serious crisis and Union government must step in to alleviate the crisis.
He had also rejected the committee on MSP constituted by the Centre and demanded that it should be reconstituted with “real farmers” as its members. He had then said that the committee was dominated by those “arm chair economists” who don’t have any knowledge about agriculture.
On import of pulses on exorbitant rates, Mann had said that it was draining country’s wealth. He had said that the farmers of the Punjab are ready to make country self reliant in production of pulses and Centre must announce MSP for same and assured marketing system for it.
He had also made a case for promotion of food processing industry, stating that Punjab has a huge potential in the field.