Virtually losing the first round of battle against the SAD ahead of panchayat polls, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has decided to turn the Badals' home-ground Lambi into the next battlefield.
Capt Amarinder on Sunday announced to take on Akali veteran Parkash Singh Badal on the latter’s home ground for allegedly misleading the people of the state on the sensitive issue of sacrilege cases.
He will hold a rally in Lambi, senior Badal's Assembly constituency, in the last week of September, after the Zila Parishad elections in the state.
A spokesperson said that Capt Amarinder had taken serious note of Badal’s continued and willful attempts to create communal unrest in the state through his deceitful statements on the report of Justice (Retd) Ranjit Singh on the widespread incidents of sacrilege that had taken place during the SAD-BJP rule.”
The Chief Minister has said that Badal had a habit of raising communal passions by spreading a web of lies and misusing religion every time around the elections, and vowed to expose the Akali leader’s real face to the people of Punjab.
"The former Chief Minister has been trying to spread a disinformation campaign on the issue of Bargari and other sacrilege cases, as well as the incidents of police firing on innocent and peaceful protestors in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura, since the Commission had come out with its report," said Capt Amarinder.
He said that Badal, who had been under fire ever since the report was tabled in the state Assembly, was clearly desperate to divert public attention from his own role in these cases.
Lambasting the former SAD chief for exploiting the religious sentiments of the people to protect his interests, he said that Badal has always misused religion to further his political ambitions and agenda.
Capt Amarinder, pointing to the incidents of communal strife that had rocked the state ahead of every election, including the 2017 Assembly polls, said: "Fortunately, the people of Punjab had seen through his attempts to destabilise the state and had voted him and his party decisively out of power."
He said that now with the parliamentary elections around the corner, Badal was once again trying to whip up communal passions in a desperate bid to retrieve the lost political ground for his Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
findings of the Ranjit Singh Commission had further fanned his fears, not just of total political oblivion but also of strict legal action for his shameful crimes, prompting him to once again resort to desperate measures to trigger unrest in the state," he added.
The Chief Minister made it clear that he would not allow Badal to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere of the state at any cost, and would expose his mal-intentions through the proposed rally.