The Congress's stormy petrel from Punjab, Jagmeet Singh Brar, today used drought to draw the attention of his party and prove the indirect point that Punjab's 'agitational' means vis a vis the centre had failed to work.
Brar, known as a charismatic public speaker but lacking base in the state, had been proposed by some quarters in the Congress led by Arjun Singh as a possible chief minister following the Congress victory in Punjab in the last assembly elections.
However, he was pipped at the post by Capt Amrinder Singh who was favoured by party president Sonia Gandhi. Singh made the election campaign hard going for Brar, who was, on one occasion, virtually pushed off the stage during an election meeting at Amritsar.
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After Amrinder Singh became CM, he led a delegation of Congress Mps and MLAs from Punjab to the PM's residence and courted arrest to protest against insufficient aid for the drought in the state. Many in the Congress felt that while this made headlines in newspapers, it did little to garner financial and material help for the state. Several Congressmen criticised the move as a 'gimmick'.
By raising this issue in the Lok Sabha, Brar also indirectly emphasised the failure of the CM to address the problem.
Although it was the central government that was the target of Brar's attack, he also said that the state government had sent three reminders to the centre on the issue but the centre had not responded to any.
Brar charged the centre with "ignoring" Punjab, and said it had not been given a single paisa to face the drought. Raising the issue during zero hour, Brar said Punjab had suffered a total loss of over Rs 6,000 crore as a result of the drought but "the centre has not given a single paisa for relief."
People in the state were on an agitational path, he said, recalling the state's contribution to the green revolution in the country. Tubewells had gone dry and the water table in 89 blocks had gone down to a level from which water could not be drawn, he said.
Brar got strong support from other members from Punjab. Responding to members' concern, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said that he would convey the members' feelings to the minister concerned. But there was no response from Brar's other target, the Punjab Chief minister.