Punjab polls: Channi enjoys tea with autowallahs, Kejriwal has dinner at auto driver’s house in Ludhiana
Both Channi and Kejiwal promise to solve problems of autowallahs in Punjab. While Channi enjoyed tea with auto drivers at Gill Chowk in Ludhiana, Kejriwal had dinner with an autorickshaw driver Dilip Kumar at his house
With poll fever gripping Punjab, politicos are busy wooing the ‘classes and masses’ these days. On Monday, chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and AAP national convener and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal were seen striking a chord with autowallahs in Ludhiana.
Channi, who was on his way to attend Congress rally at the grain market here, made an impromptu stop at Gill Chowk and started talking to the auto drivers, who were visibly surprised to see the unusual guest.
Channi, accompanied by Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, perched on a wooden bench as he listened to the problems being faced by the auto drivers. The chief minister also relished the tea offered by his hosts. Striking an emotional chord with the crowd, Channi said during his initial days he had also driven an autorickshaw. The CM also promised to issue new registration certificates to them.
Later, Kejriwal addressed an ‘Auto Samwad’ programme in the city and promised to solve the problems of auto and taxi drivers if they help the AAP to come to power in Punjab in the upcoming polls. During the programme, Kejriwal was invited for a dinner by an auto driver, Dilip Kumar. The AAP leader accepted the invitation and went to Kumar’s house in Bajwa Nagar here accompanied by state party leaders Bhagwant Mann and Harpal Singh Cheema.
After the dinner, Kejriwal tweeted: “Dilip Kumar invited us from the bottom of his heart to his house for dinner today. His family gave so much love. Very tasty food. I have invited his entire family for having food at my home in Delhi now.”
Kumar said: “It feels like a dream that Kejriwal ji has come to my home. I am very happy about it. I have no words to express how happy I feel.” Prior to this, the Delhi CM took a ride in Dilip’s autorickshaw.
While addressing the gathering of autorickshaw and taxi drivers, the Delhi CM took a dig at Channi and termed him as ‘fake Kejriwal’ for allegedly making the same promises as being made by AAP in the state. Kejriwal stated that Channi went to meet auto drivers in the day, as Punjab CM came to know that he will be meeting the drivers in the evening.