The ensuing Punjab elections have hit a new nadir with top leaders not shying away from hitting their opponents ‘below the belt’. This time it is not the usual slander that the electorate is accustomed to in the run up to polls.
Top leaders in Punjab could not care less while scorning each other over their personal life. Congress's CM face candidate Charanjit Singh Channi took a dig at AAP’s CM face candidate and MP Bhagwant Mann while talking about the latter’s marriage fiasco. Channi at an event asked how a person (Mann) who could not take care of his wife and children, would take care of others in Punjab. Mann and his wife were divorced in 2015, a phase that people close to Mann describe as highly upsetting for the leader.
Former CM Capt Amarinder Singh is getting mocked for his friendship with his Pakistani friend and journalist Aroosa Alam. Senior Congress leaders, including state party Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, have slammed Capt on this issue sneering at his ‘uncanny’ ways in public life. A purported video tape that went viral has Capt and Aroosa in a candid conversation talking about ‘Chiku’ and ‘Sitaphal’ fruits. Capt, however, has deftly defended his friendship with Aroosa.
Navjot Sidhu’s namesake wife Navjot Kaur made uncorroborated remarks against former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal while claiming that he consumes opium. Kaur did not stop here and claimed that even the senior Badal consumes opium. She alleged that Sukhbir gets opium from neighbouring Rajasthan.
Bhagwant Mann’s fascination for drinking has come to haunt him again. Mann had pledged to quit drinking at a rally some time ago. It is unclear if the leader has still kept his word to quit alcohol. That notwithstanding, videos of Mann in an inebriated state, at times slurring in public arena, are being made viral by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to denounce the leadership that AAP promises for Punjab.
Amid this entire verbal diarrhea, the ‘tu tu main main’ words like thug (cheat), chor (thief), mafia, etc. continue to remain a staple ingredient of poll vocabulary. Navjot Sidhu at a rally said he has bundled up Capt Amarinder like a ‘Jalebi’ and kicked him out of Congress.
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