JALANDHAR: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) joint candidate and SAD legislator from Banga – Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi today filed his nomination papers for the Jalandhar parliamentary election and appealed to the electorate to teach a befitting lesson to all parties who were practicing divisive politics even as he asserted the SAD-BSP alliance could alone effect real change in the State.

Talking to newsmen after filing his nomination papers before the District Returning Officer, Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi said Jalandhar had suffered during both the earlier Congress and present AAP regime. “Both governments have failed to take advantage of central schemes and convert the district hospital into a medical college. The civic infrastructure is at its worst. Only yesterday I was stuck at the Gurunanakpura railway crossing for one hour”.

Asserting that all welfare schemes had come to a standstill, Dr Sukhi said “the AAP government has increased the free power units available for domestic consumption from 200 units being given by the SAD to 300 units but in the process has ended all welfare benefits being given to Punjabis''. He said lentils did not form a part of the ‘aata – daal’ scheme any longer. “More than one lakh blue cards have been deleted. The Ayushman health card which was stopped by the Congress party has not been restarted. The promise of giving Rs 1,000 per month to all women in the State has also not been kept”.

Speaking on the occasion, senior SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema condemned the manner in which the model code had been violated by chief minister Bhagwant Mann yesterday while accompanying the AAP candidate to file the latter’s nomination papers. He said the administration should have been prompt in taking notice of the violations including illegal hoarding put across the city. He disclosed that SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal was scheduled to accompany Dr Sukhi in filing his nomination papers but could not come as he was visiting the ailing former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in hospital at Mohali.

BSP State president Jasbir Singh Garhi while speaking on the occasion said the AAP government was misappropriating the legacy of Baba Sahib Bhim Rao Ambedkar. He said no government function was held to mark the birth anniversary of Baba Sahib and even the historic Kuralgarh Sahib associated with him had not been developed. Senior BSP leader Avtar Singh Kareempuri said during the last nine years the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had discriminated against the minorities and weaker sections of society. He said this was not all. “The BJP and AAP have got together to target Sikh youth by imposing NSA against innocent youth in the aftermath of the Ajnala incident”. He said the SAD-BSP combine alone was working to protect the rights of the common man.

Senior leaders Pawan Kumar Tinu, Nachhtar Pal and Baldev Khaira were also present on the occasion.