New Delhi, 27 August (H.S.): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab and party leader Arvind Kejriwal over the issue of pending dearness allowance (DA) for government employees. Referring to Kejriwal as the “Super CM of Punjab”, Bhandari questioned when the long-pending DA of more than three lakh government employees would finally be released.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Pradeep Bhandari said more than three lakh government employees across Punjab were staging protests at various locations, around 35 per cent of whom were women. He alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party had promised an 18 per cent DA but had yet to implement it. He said that if the DA was not released within 24 hours, it would become clear that the AAP government was “playing with the dignity and rights” of its employees.

The BJP spokesperson also accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal of corruption, alleging that, as in Delhi, those in power were being benefited at the expense of the people in Punjab. He claimed that every person in the state carried a debt burden of around ₹1.23 lakh and alleged that the AAP government was pushing Punjab towards an economic crisis.

He alleged that just as the AAP had “looted Delhi”, it was now “looting Punjab”. Bhandari claimed that 31,370 government teaching posts were vacant in Punjab, along with 2,424 vacant posts in colleges and universities and 2,952 posts in higher education. He further alleged that more than 40 per cent of posts in government teacher-training institutes were vacant.

“Even those employees who are currently in service are not receiving their DA,” he said.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar