Won't let Punjab fall prey to Cong, AAP: Jaitley

Bathinda (Punjab): Training guns at the 'corrupt' Congress and 'inefficient' Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said it is crucial to save Punjab from falling prey to the hands of these two political outfits.   Addressing a rally here, Jaitley highlighted the corruption free image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre.   "There was a lot of corruption during the ten-year tenure of the Congress government. They were cheaters; they cheated the nation so much that I cannot even express it before you all. In the last two years, we have uprooted corruption from the nation. Nobody can point fingers at the Central Government as there is no corruption anymore," said Jaitley.   "In 2002, there was Congress government in Punjab. And the then chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh used to say that Sukhbir ji possesses land in Australia and night clubs and petrol pumps in America. But sadly they could not find that, but we found the bank accounts of Amrinder Singh's family in Switzerland," he added.   Taking a jibe at the Congress and AAP, Jaitley said that the grand old party is shrinking where as the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is busy accusing the Centre instead of working for development of Delhi.   "This has happened for the first time that the NDA has 340 seats in the Lok Sabha and has government in 15 states whereas the Congress has shrunk to 44 seats in the Lok Sabha and has its government in just six states," he said.   Jaitley further said it is very easy to run a government in Delhi because the Centre invests a lot for development there.   "If the state government performs even five to six percent of work, Delhi will run on its own. But the AAP government does not even do the little work it has to do. Every day the party chief comes up with some new topic to fight with the Central Government. And we have to save Punjab from this kind of politics," he added.   Elucidating the NDA government's achievements in the last two years in office, Jaitley said that India has surpassed China's growth rate and become the world's fastest developing economy under Prime Ministers Modi's leadership.   "The NDA is making relentless efforts to accelerate the development in the nation and now we are planning to clean all rivers of Punjab to increase its capacity. We have decided that this year we will start 35 new airports in the small towns to improve connectivity. Moving on to improve medical facilities in Punjab, we will be opening AIIMS here in Batindha," said Jaitley.   "In the past two years, the people across the world are writing that India is the fastest developing country in the world and has surpassed China's growth rate," he added.   The Finance Minister also took a dig at the Third Front, saying they make several assertions but do not know anything about governance.   Jaitley also lauded Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD government and said this has changed the economic face of Punjab.   "Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has given the details of development to me. I am extremely impressed and would like to congratulate Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Singh Badal and all their ministers for the commendable work they have done to develop Punjab. They have improved the economy of Punjab," Jaitley said.   "If you have to develop a state or a province, the first thing which one has to do is to connect it through the development of the nation. One has to connect state to the Centre. And this work has been done by the Punjab Government," he added.