Chandigarh, October 25
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has once again attacked the BJP regarding the difficulties faced in the procurement of paddy in Punjab's grain markets. AAP senior leader and cabinet minister Aman Arora stated that in recent days, BJP leaders have been misleading farmers and commission agents with false statements.
Arora said that the central government and BJP leaders are trying to shift their blame onto the Punjab government. He said that AAP is not retaliating for losing ten seats; rather, the BJP is taking revenge on Punjab's farmers and commission agents for their zero seats in the Lok Sabha and the farmers' movement. He added that AAP has a government in Punjab, having been elected by the people with a historic majority. Every child in Punjab knows the BJP's negative mentality towards the state.
Arora pointed out that while the central government has issued a credit limit of ₹43,000 crore, BJP leaders should understand that the true owner of the grain is the central government. All decisions related to grain storage are implemented by the central government. If the central government wants the Punjab government to keep grain in its single custody, they should provide an affidavit ensuring that the maintenance process and any issues related to weight and quality will not cause losses to the Punjab government and the storage owners. Any losses should be compensated by the central government.
Questioning the BJP leader's statement about the milling policy, Arora noted that the policy was introduced in January, which mentions lifting 15 lac metric tons of grain each month. According to this, the FCI should have lifted around 150 lac metric tons of rice by October; he asked why lifting has been so slow.
The AAP leader advised BJP leaders to stop making false statements and instead seek a solution to this issue from their party's top leadership and the central government to alleviate farmers' difficulties. He concluded by stating that in reality, BJP leaders are making such misleading statements to hide their government's failures.