AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann inaugurated 13 schools of eminence in Punjab on Sunday during an event held at Indrapuri School of Eminence in Ludhiana.

With these, the state now has 117 schools of eminence, which have smart classrooms, modern infrastructure and labs, and playgrounds having facilities for various sports.

Mann said more than 1 lakh students had applied for admission to schools of eminence this year. After a screening test, 8,200 students got admission. Punjab has 18,000 government schools and all of these will be developed. Students are being imparted training for competitive exams such as NEET and JEE, he said.

He said people are now shifting their kids from private schools to government schools. The CM said Indrapuri School of Eminence has a swimming pool, lawn tennis court, basketball court and science laboratories. He claimed that not even any private school in Punjab has a swimming pool on its premises.

Targeting Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal, Mann said a scam had recently surfaced in which Sukhbir allegedly caused a loss of ₹108.7 crore to the state exchequer after the then SAD-BJP government gave tax exemptions to it. “We will get the money back and will spend it on the public,” he said.

Kejriwal, while addressing the event, stated that the Centre had held back Punjab funds worth ₹8,000 crore. If they release the funds, many more schools of eminence, hospitals, roads and other development projects can be initiated.

He also said the Punjab governor had been putting hurdles before smooth functioning of the state government daily.

They dedicated 13 schools in Ludhiana; Adampur in Jalandhar; Mall Mandi, Mall Road and Jandiala Guru in Amritsar; Parasram Nagar and Ram Nagar in Bathinda; Amloh in Fatehgarh Sahib; Jalalabad West and Arniwala Sheikh Suban in Fazilka, Phagwara; Phase 11 in SAS Nagar and Khadoor Sahib in Tarn Taran.

The AAP government faced backlash from Congress leaders, who claimed that the Ludhiana school was built during Congress regime and Mann is taking political mileage by declaring it their (AAP) project. Meanwhile, Congress MP Ravneet Bittu alleged that the Punjab government played with the future of 1,500 students with a delay of two years in inaugurating the Indrapuri school.