The employees are the backbone of every government, but for the first time in Punjab’s history, thousands of state government employees have been forced to take to the streets for their rightful due, state BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon said on Jattvibeday.Dhillon alleged that the AAP government had betrayed its employees by withholding pending dearness allowance (DA).Despite clear directions from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the AAP government was continuing to evade releasing the DA, Dhillon told reporters in Mohali district, on the sidelines of a gathering held to watch the live broadcast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme.The state government is denying them their rightful dues and benefits, he said, charging that the Chief Minister backing out from scheduled meetings with employee organisations was highly condemnable.The state’s employees would now decide the future of this government, Dhillon said.Over 3 lakh government employees went on a statewide strike by taking mass casual leave on Thursday (August 27) to press the Punjab government to release pending 18 per cent dearness allowance (DA), implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and regularise contractual employees.The Punjab government has asked officers concerned to issue show-cause notices to those employees who remained “unauthorised absent” on August 27.Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh condemned the Mann government’s move to issue notices to employees, which he claimed is an attempt to deter them from going on a collective strike.”There is no place for Nadirshahi diktats in Punjab,” Chugh said.Chugh said the Aam Aadmi Party had made tall promises to Punjab’s employees before coming to power, but after assuming office, the government has failed to address their pending demands and fulfil its commitments.Instead of finding solutions, the government is now resorting to notices and threats whenever employees raise their voice for their rights, he said.The government should abandon the path of confrontation, immediately engage with employee organisations and establish a clear time-bound mechanism to resolve their pending demands, Chugh emphasised.Chugh said employees will continue to raise their legitimate concerns through democratic means and the BJP stands firmly with them in their fight for their legitimate rights and demands.