The Bharatiya Janta Party seems in no mood to spare Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal over his remarks at INlD’s rally in Rohtak on Sunday.
Up in arms against ruling partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab, the BJP leaders in Haryana are now openly voicing their displeasure over Sukhbir’s statement on Haryana's BJP Government on the issue of developmental works in the State.
Hitting back at Sukhbir Badal, Haryana Health Minister and senior BJP leader Anil Vij on Tuesday advised him to take care of Punjab.
“Punjab is being ruined and junior Badal should take care of his state,” said Vij condemning Sukhbir Badal’s remarks against BJP Government at a rally held by Haryana’s main opposition Indian National lok Dal on Sunday.
While talking to the mediapersons, Vij said, “By giving such a statement at INlD’s rally, Sukhbir Badal has violated the coalition-dharma.”
In a major embarrassment to the BJP, Sukhbir Badal had on Sunday said "During INlD rule, Haryana progressed", and added "for the last 11 years, 'sarkar naam ki cheez he nahein hein' (it appears for last 11 years Government doesn't exist in Haryana)".
Though his taunt was mainly directed at the decade-long Congress rule in Haryana, in his statement he also included the one-year tenure of the BJP Government led by Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar in the State.
"When we enter Haryana from Punjab, we see broken roads, villages in bad shape, no electricity and harassment of farmers," Sukhbir Badal had said.
Sukhbir went onto say, “Have you ever seen any Chief Minister in your villages everIJ In the past 11 years, have you (farmers) seen any Chief Minister in your grain marketIJ In the last 11 years, the Chief Ministers of Haryana have only stayed in Gurgaon and New Delhi.”
He had added that Haryana has the maximum debt among all States in recent years.
SAD is a key ally of the BJP and shares power with the saffron party in Punjab since 2007. However, SAD had fought the 2014 Haryana assembly elections in alliance with the INlD.
Sukhbir’s address at the INlD rally has now triggered a controversy between the coalition partners SAD and BJP.
Expressing displeasure over Sukhbir’s statement, Subhash Barala, president of Haryana BJP advised the Badal family to think 10 times before stating such a thing. He added that Badals belonged to a regional party while BJP is a national outfit.
Haryana BJP vice president Rajiv Jain while condemning Badal’s remarks said that SAD Government in Punjab is
running due to the support of BJP only.
Meanwhile, Sukhbir Badal had a day before retracted from his rally’s statement and clarified that he actually wanted to say 10 years and it was just a slip of tongue that he referred to 11 years rather than 10 years. No other meaning should be derived out of this statement, Sukbir had said at Muktsar.
Notably, BJP alliance partner in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led by Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal went all out to support the Indian National lok Dal during last year’s assembly polls in Haryana. At that time, the Badals had insisted they had longstanding ties with the Chautalas.