Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday lashed out at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for bartering away the constitutional principles to promote their political interest, with their latest U-turn over supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Delhi assembly polls.

Capt Amarinder, reacting to SAD president Sukhbir Badal’s latest statement that the party had thrown its weight behind the BJP in Delhi, said that these flip-flops had nailed the Akali lies on their stand on the unconstitutional and divisive Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Referring to Sukhbir’s explanation for the U-turn that the ‘miscommunications’ between the two parties had been sorted out, Capt Amarinder demanded to know whether the BJP had

agreed to amending the CAA in line with SAD’s earlier stand, or the Akalis had once again surrendered themselves to the BJP at the cost of the nation’s interest.

“You owe an explanation to the people,” he told Sukhbir, castigating him for SAD’s “unprincipled” stand on the issue of grave concern, which had been getting exposed every second day, since they openly and wholeheartedly supported CAA in the Parliament.

SAD’s decision to backtrack on its earlier stand to extend its support to BJP in Delhi just a week before the scheduled polls indicated that they had used CAA as a bargaining chip to secure some political gains, said the Chief Minister.

This development, he said, clearly exposed the Akalis’ selfish intentions and the Badal family’s desperation to hold on to power as part of the ruling alliance at the Centre.

Capt Amarinder said that Sukhbir’s shameless face-about on the issue showed that the Badals had no longer had any qualms about abandoning even the pretense of the SAD being a principled party. It was sad that a party formed to uphold certain principles no longer care about political ethics, nor did it seem concerned about following the ideology of the great Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev, who had propagated the oneness of all beings, irrespective of their religion, he added.

Rather than quitting the ruling NDA, which would have been the right thing to do after claiming not to support CAA without inclusion of Muslims, Sukhbir had chosen to stay with the BJP, whatever the cost for the people of India, the Chief Minister quipped.

“SAD U-turn in Delhi had also further accentuated the divide within the Akalis, which appeared to be on the verge of another split,” said Capt Amarinder, adding that the party was clearly a divided House and no longer capable of giving a political fight on its own, which had become evident in Haryana.

“Obviously, they need the BJP to hand-hold them on the political ladder, especially in view of the fact that elections in Punjab are just two years away and they have no political leg to stand on,” he said adding that no wonder Sukhbir had been constrained to clarify, just two days ago, that the SAD-BJP alliance in Punjab was intact.

HITTING BACK, SAD SAYS CAPT’S STATEMENT PROVES CONG’s ANXIETY IN DELHI

Reacting to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s about SAD-BJP unity, SAD on Thursday said that tone and tenor of the statement itself reflects Congress’ anxiety and nervousness and proved that the alliance has severely affected the prospects of Congress party in Delhi polls.

Before asking SAD that why it supported its old and time tested ally BJP, the Chief Minister should have offered his explanation that why he is going to support the same Congress party which has massacred thousands of innocent Sikhs in the streets of Delhi and other parts of the country, said SAD senior vice president and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema.

SAD also questioned the Chief Minister that had he perused the contents of latest Justice Dhingra report on 1984 Sikh massacre which clearly states that not only the Sikhs were massacred by goons led by Congress leaders, but the Congress party went to the extent of hushing up their cases and misused the police and judiciary.

Cheema urged the Chief Minister that if he is so much against the CAA, he should dare visit 30,000 Afghanistani Sikh families who were settled in Delhi after migrating from their motherland because of religious persecution.

He said that it will give Capt Amarinder a reason that why the SAD supported the CAA.