Punjab News: Blame Game Breaks Out Over PM’s Flood Relief Package - VIDEO

Chandigarh: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s immediate aid of Rs 1600 crore for flood ravaged Punjab, a bitter blame game erupted on Wednesday with the state’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and main opposition Congress pooh-poohing the same as a meagre amount and the BJP hitting back for ``misinforming’’ people as, it held, more aid was on the way upon receiving proposals.

Calling the financial assistance of Rs 1,600 crore announced by the Prime Minister Narendra for the flood-hit state as “miserably meagre”, Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema told newspersons said that he was part of the meeting chaired by Modi to review the flood situation in Gurdaspur, and had told the PM that Rs 1,600 crore was a “meagre” amount.

Cheema said that the PM also told Punjab minister for revenue, rehabilitation and disaster management, Hardeep Singh Mundian, when the latter told him that the state had asked for 20,000 crore relief: ``Kya aapko Hindi samajh nahin aati. Aapko samajh nahin aata ke Rs 1,600 crore de diya (do you not understand Hindi? Do you not understand that Rs 1,600 crore has been given), Cheema alleged adding that it means PM insulted our mother language Punjabi, people of Punjab and Punjabiyat.

CENTRE, STATE LET DOWN PUNJAB: WARRING

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said that both the Centre and the state governments had let down the people of Punjab during the devastating natural calamity that has caused devastation worth thousands of crores of rupees.

Referring to the PM’s relief package, he held this was nothing as compared to the losses caused in the state. He also disputed the PM’s claims about Rs 12,000 crore Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), saying there was nothing special about it as it was provided to the states as a matter of routine.

He noted that the Punjab government was not left even with a penny from this fund as it had apparently diverted it to some other heads like paying of salaries to its staff since it has gone almost bankrupt.

AAP GOVT MISLEADING PUBLIC: BJP

Hitting back, the state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar accused AAP government of presenting irrational data to secure Central aid, which is ultimately harming the people of Punjab now and will continue to do so in the future.

Despite this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has provided Rs 1,600 crore in immediate relief for the state and assured further assistance upon receiving additional proposals, he held and targeted AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, whom he called the "super CM," and held that “Repeating the same lie over and over doesn’t make it true.”