Kejriwal promises 'Delhi experience' if he wins 2017 Punjab assembly elections

Sangrur: Claiming that ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance in Punjab was confronted with a “tsunami of anti-incumbency”, Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the party will replicate the Delhi anti-corruption model if AAP is voted to power in the state. Kick-starting his five-day visit to Punjab, where Assembly elections is due early 2017, Kejriwal claimed that the party would form its government in Punjab as the present dispensation is “confronted with a tsunami of anti-incumbency.” [caption id=“attachment_2643404” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal talking to media at Ramlila Ground in New Delhi on Tuesday. [/caption] “Corruption would be eradicated in Punjab after we come to power. The Delhi experience would be replicated in Punjab where 52 officials have been nabbed,” he said. Terming as “cruel joke” the “meagre compensation” paid by the state government to farmers for the damaged crop, Kejriwal promised adequate compensation to them if AAP comes to power. “We have done it in Delhi where compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare was given for farmers in 307 villages for their damaged crops, which was never done by any previous government,” Kejriwal said while addressing different gatherings. Kejriwal met wives of farmers, who recently committed suicide due to heavy debt. “I think the compensation of Rs. 3,00,000 announced by the state government for families of farmers, who committed suicide, was also embezzled by corrupt officials and politicians as on the ground, no such compensation was given to any family,” he said in Sunam district. Kejriwal promised that if voted to power in the state, the AAP government would provide necessary health and education facilities. PTI