AAP beaten retreat for good Warring on withdrawal of land pooling policy by Punjab govt

Ludhiana, Aug 13 (PTI): Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring Wednesday said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state had beaten a retreat for good after withdrawing the land pooling policy.
     In the face of mounting pressure from farmer bodies and opposition parties, the Punjab government on Monday withdrew its land pooling policy, which it had once termed "farmer-friendly".
     "The party has already been barred from entering so many villages and very soon it will be barred from the whole of Punjab," the PCC president said, while presiding over a meeting of senior party leaders here.
     Warring also inaugurated six 'open-air' gyms in the city where he provided Rs 4 lakh each from his Local Area Development Fund (MPLADS).
     Predicting a "severe rout" for the ruling AAP in the 2027 assembly elections in Punjab, he claimed that the party will meet the fate of its "A-team", the BJP, which was "completely banished" from the rural and urban areas of Punjab.
     "AAP has been following the BJP's rule book and it is bound to meet the BJP's fate as well," he said.
     Warring said he has started an extensive outreach programme, meeting people, cadres and workers along with the senior leaders of the party.
     He said he has been getting feedback from the people and workers about the government as well as about the party's strategy for the future course of action.
     Expressing confidence about the Congress' prospects in 2027, he noted that while AAP stood discredited for its "repeated failures and blatant attempt to loot and rob" the Punjabis' land, the Shiromani Akali Dal has been "vertically split" and the BJP was nowhere in the race.
     "People see only hope in the Congress and we are ready to take the challenge," he asserted, adding that the coming one-and-a-half years are not only crucial for the party but also for the state as well.
     "We need to save Punjab and bring it back on the path of progress," he said, while asserting that only the Congress can do that.
     He said people were ruing and regretting what they did in 2022 by getting carried away with alluring and tempting promises of the AAP leaders, who meant nothing.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)