Cornering Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over his claim that he had no knowledge about the ₹12,000-crore State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) lying with Punjab, state BJP president Sunil Jakhar made Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports public on Saturday to counter the AAP government.
In a social media message addressed to Mann, Jakhar wrote, “This is the CAG report, which clearly states that as of March 31, 2023, Punjab had ₹9,041.74 crore of SDRF funds, and according to the report, in violation of central government rules, the state government did not even make proper investments of this amount.”
He further tweeted, “Even after that, funds for the years 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26 have been released, which together make a total of ₹12,000 crore. Chief Minister Sahib, even your Chief Secretary, in your presence during a press conference, reluctantly admitted this, and your ministers have also accepted it. Now it would be better if you apologise to the people of Punjab for misleading them and ensure that this amount is properly used to provide relief to the people.”
Also read: BJP lying about SDRF funds, says Punjab FM
Later, in a statement issued to the media, Jakhar said that as mentioned in the CAG report, as of March 31, 2024, the state government had a total of ₹10,380.41 crore of SDRF funds deposited. He said it is evident from this that the Chief Minister is running away from his responsibilities and trying to cover up the misuse of government funds.
Jakhar said the CM cannot just say, “I don’t know where the money is”. Reminding Mann that the people of Punjab had elected him and not Kejriwal as the Chief Minister, he said the CM should take the reins of the government in his hands and fulfil his responsibilities. “If the Punjab government continues to be run on contract by Kejriwal, the people of Punjab will never forgive him,” he said.
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