Barnala called upon people in general and the youth in particular to reject people with "archaic thinking" and vote for "change to usher Punjab in a better tomorrow".
Taking a dig at Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Barnala accused him of befooling youth by selling them dreams only even as state's economic situation had gone from bad to worse.
"The beginning must be made from this by-election itself as the people were fed up with the Akali Dal-BJP alliance," he said.
This government in general and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in particular had only been befooling the youth by selling them dreams while the situation had gone from bad to worse with no sign of immediate recovery, he said.
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"What to talk of the poll-promise of hike (in old age and other pensions), people were not getting pensions even at the existing rate in time and the backlog at times had been running into months. Similar was the situation with Shagun scheme and unemployment allowance," he alleged.
"This government is suffering from trust deficit and as such, the people must take the first step to teach it a lesson and pave the way for change," he said.
Dhuri by-poll, which will be held on April 11, will see direct fight between the Congress candidate and SAD-BJP alliance candidate Gobind Singh Longowal.
The bypoll was necessitated after Congress MLA Arvind Khanna resigned from the Assembly in January.