Gurdaspur: Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa Tuesday said BJPs prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had no magic wand to lift the sinking fortunes of Akali Dal-BJP candidates in Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Bajwa, seeking re-election from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency, said the SAD-BJP would be wiped out in the polls in Punjab due to an "anti-incumbency" wave against the state government.
Modi had no magic wand to reverse this situation, he said.
The Akali Dal-BJP combine was seeking votes in Modi?s name but this would not blunt the anti-incumbency wave sweeping the state, the Punjab Congress head said.
The government?s only claim to fame was that Punjab, once a most prosperous state, had been turned into a "state of addicts", Bajwa said.
"It was shocking that the staff of a transport company, owned by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, publicly forced passengers of a state roadways bus on the GT Road at Jalandhar yesterday to get down and board their bus," he said.
Sukhbir Badal had "monopolised" the private transport in the state, Bajwa said.
Attacking his BJP opponent for Gurdaspur seat Vinod Khanna, the Congress leader said his attendance in the Lok Sabha was 82 per cent as against 42 per cent of Khanna during their previous tenure.
The "Mumbai Ka Babu" should have thought twice before questioning his perfomarnce, he said.
On bringing big ticket projects to Punjab, Bajwa alleged the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister had scuttled this by not allocating the land.
The projects included a railway coach factory at Kalanaur and Beas-Qadian railway line, he said.
