Amarinder arm-twisting Centre, playing anti-people politics: Ashwani Sharma
Chandigarh, November 8, 2020: Punjab BJP president Ashwani Sharma on Sunday condemned Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh for "trying to arm-twist the Centre by instigating the farmers to not let trains run in the state putting lakhs of Punjab people to inconvenience in the festival season".
In a letter to the chief minister, the BJP president said after the Railway Board chairman RK Yadav had said that the Railways was ready to resume train services anytime after the state government clears the railway tracks the Punjab chief minister continued playing anti-people politics.
He said, "on the one hand the Punjab government had failed to dissuade protestors from blocking train services, on the other hand, it is claiming that due to non-supply of items like coal Punjab was facing a crisis".
He said at more than 15 places in the state protestors were still camping on the railway station premises. "Does Punjab government want only goods trains to run and not the passenger trains ?
The BJP president said the Punjab chief minister was dictating railway agenda to the Centre for his petty politics. If the Punjab government claims to have prepared conditions for running goods trains, why cannot it ensure similar security for the passenger trains?
The Congress government, he said, was acting the spirit of the Supreme Court judgements also which clearly said that in the name of protest roads and rails could not be blocked. This has not only put the common man to a lot of inconveniences, besides creating major difficulties for the business community which is engaged in manufacturing and trading and farmers who need fertilizers and other inputs coming through trains. It has badly affected the movement of labourers working in agriculture files and industrial units and has also hit imports and exports from the state.