Ludhiana, June 1 (IANS) BJP national General Secretary Tarun Chugh said on Sunday that Punjab is facing a debt of over Rs 4 lakh crore, while campaigning for Jeewan Gupta, the BJP candidate for the June 19 Ludhiana (West) bypoll. He also gave a call to expose the theatrical actions of the AAP government in Punjab.

Speaking to the media, Chugh said the bypoll is a litmus test for Punjab, which is currently suffering under AAP’s chaotic and directionless governance. “Punjab is facing a grave law and order crisis and due to complete financial mismanagement, the state is reeling under a debt of more than Rs 4 lakh crore,” Chugh said.

He added that Ludhiana, once hailed as the industrial capital of India, is now battling a lack of basic infrastructure, a surge in organised crime, and rampant drug abuse. Investors are fleeing to other states, while the youth of Punjab feel betrayed by AAP’s empty promises of jobs and prosperity.

Chugh hit out at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, calling him a puppet in the hands of Arvind Kejriwal. He said, “Just like the people of Delhi rejected Kejriwal, the people of Punjab will do the same to Bhagwant Mann in 2027.” BJP candidate Jeewan Gupta, while thanking the party leadership for entrusting him with this opportunity, said he is hopeful and determined. He said the business community in Punjab is particularly suffering under the Mann regime due to the absence of a clear, consistent industrial policy.

He assured that with public support, he will raise every voice that AAP has silenced in Punjab.

The bypoll for the Ludhiana (West) Assembly was necessitated by the demise of Gurpreet Gogi Bassi, who sustained a gunshot wound to his head at his house in January. The election will be held on June 17, with the counting of ballots on June 23 along with four other Assembly seats — two in Gujarat and one each in Kerala and West Bengal.

The state Aam Aadmi Party in February announced Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora as its candidate for the by-election, while the main Opposition Congress has fielded former Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who is being accused in a multi-crore foodgrain transportation and labour cartage tender scam.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has nominated Parupkar Singh Ghuman for the bypoll.

By fielding the sitting MP, speculations in political circles are rife that AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, who’s active in the state politics after facing humiliating defeat not only of his party but his bastion in Delhi Assembly elections, is going to the Rajya Sabha in his place in case Arora wins the bypoll. However, the party has so far denied that Kejriwal is moving to the Rajya Sabha.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in October 2024 carried out a raid at the residence of AAP candidate Arora in Ludhiana as part of a money laundering probe linked to a land ‘fraud’ case. The raid was in connection with a chunk of land that was allotted to Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited, one of the companies owned by Arora, by the state government for an industrial project, but it was used for a residential project.

In the 2022 Assembly elections, AAP’s legislator Gogi, who joined the party in the run-up to the polls, defeated two-time legislator Bharat Bhushan Ashu in Ludhiana (West), a traditional Congress stronghold urban seat.

–IANS

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