Case of sour grapes: Punjab CM on Sisodia's allegation on school education ranking
Jun 12, 2021
Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], June 13 : Ridiculing Delhi Deputy Chief Minister's (CM) allegation of a political conspiracy of the Centre and the Punjab government in the matter of school education ranking, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday termed it as a clear case of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) crying foul in the face of its imminent wipe out from the state in the 2022 Assembly polls.
In a hard-hitting reaction to Manish Sisodia's allegation of a 'secret pact' between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Punjab CM, Amarinder Singh said, "AAP leadership was so obsessed with electoral politics that it saw poll conspiracies even in something as basic as school education. The fact was that AAP, which had failed to make a dent in Punjab's political arena over the past 4 years, beginning with its poor performance in the 2017 elections, could see the rout which it was facing in 2022".
He further went on to challenge Sisodia to come to Punjab to see the schools, adding that the revamp of the state's schools was an exercise undertaken by his government as a top priority, and the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 released by the Union Education Minister recently reflected the success of those efforts.
"If you are really interested in improving the education system of Delhi, maybe you should do a jugalbandi with me, and I will teach you how to manage things better," the Chief Minister said, in a derisive response to Sisodia's charge of `jugalbandi' between Modi and him.
From ranking 22nd on the earlier index that was in place when Singh took over as the Chief Minister to ranking number 1 on the PGI scale, Punjab's school education has undergone a massive transformation, Singh mentioned while terming Sisodia's comments as an obvious case of "sour grapes' since Delhi had scored 6th ranking in the list.
Singh claimed that his government had invested in the development of key sectors like education and health in a consistent manner over the past four years.
An increase in government school enrolment and extraordinary improvement in results was a clear reflection of the success of these measures, he added.
Punjab has topped all the states and UTs by securing 929 marks out of 1000 in the 70 parameters laid down by the Union Government in the PGI ranking.
