‘SAD is the only Punjabi party, rest are national’: Sukhbir Singh Badal

Ahead of the February 20 elections to the 117-member Punjab assembly, Ramesh Vinayak and Navneet Sharma speak with Sukhbir Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Why should people vote for your party?

One, we are the only Punjabi party; the rest are national. The second is our track record as harbingers of big-ticket development from highways and airports to making Punjab power surplus. Sukhbir has to show results to become a chief minister. Other parties’ CMs will be picked by their high commands and they will just look after their own constituency, not the state.

What are the three challenges facing Punjab?

One is restoring Punjab’s damaged image. Other parties have brought down the state’s reputation, calling it a land of drug addicts. The drug problem in Punjab is a thousand times less than what it is in Goa or Maharashtra. Second, Punjab is not financially as weak as it is made out to be. When in power, we generated income and invested it. The Congress government did neither. Three, we have to raise the level of our education. My thrust will be on quality.

What is your take on the race among parties to announce freebies?

The state has to divide its resources between welfare of the poor and infra spend. In welfare, you have to see what is required. For instance, what I have promised in the freebies is ₹10 lakh education loan for students going abroad for studies. Today, ₹14,000 crore is the state’s annual free power subsidy bill footed by the Punjab government. Instead, I would set up solar plants with 90% private funding in a year. That will cost us ₹30,000 crore, which is equal to a two-year subsidy. That way, our annual subsidy flow will come down to ₹2,000 crore.

This is doable. I am for innovative solutions to manage freebies, not Arvind Kejriwal’s way of announcing ₹1,000 monthly dole to all women in Punjab.

Why do you deserve to be chief minister?

Credibility is my biggest asset. You need a stable person to helm a state as sensitive and aspirational as Punjab. The one who thinks big and out-of-the-box and acts like the CEO of the state ushers in change.

What is your sense of the electoral mood in Punjab?

An active cadre can make the difference of 10% vote. Our cadre is all charged up. There is a Congress meltdown and a chunk of its cadre is shifting to others, mostly the AAP, which, however, lacks a pan-Punjab base. The Akalis retained their core vote of 30% even in the worst-ever performance in 2017. The Congress got 35%, while the AAP was at 21%, which fell to 6% in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.