Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday dismissed his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal’s claim that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress in the state were colluding to fight the state Assembly elections due next year, calling them as a “bunch of lies”.
“What Kejriwal has stated is a bunch of lies...any kind of connivance with anti-Punjab and anti-Sikh Congress is unimaginable,” Badal said while talking to the reporters on the sidelines of his sangat darshan programme in lambi Assembly segment.
“SAD can never even think of having any sort of adjustment with the party which had attacked Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple), perpetrated the carnage of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and which had done grave injustice to the state by depriving us of our capital, river waters and even Punjabi speaking areas,” he said.
Slamming Kejriwal, the Akali leader said that he is “issuing baseless and irrational statements just for vested political interests”.
“Kejriwal is also suffering from anti-Punjab syndrome and does not have basic knowledge about the state,” he claimed.
The chief minister further alleged that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is lacking an agenda for development of the state and trying to mislead the people by hollow slogans. The administration is not run by hollow slogans as work has to be done on ground level to ensure welfare of the people, he added.
“AAP is like a house of cards which is likely to collapse even before the State Assembly polls. AAP leadership neither has any character nor were they having any ideology and their sole motive is to assume power for plundering the State,” Badal said.
“The allegations of party tickets being sold leveled by AAP cadres were reflection of moral degradation in politics,” he alleged.
Calling the state Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, who is from the royal family of the erstwhile state of Patiala, as a “king of palaces”, Badal said, “He is least worried about the welfare of people and would deprive the people of the subsidies being given by the SAD-BJP Government.”
When asked about the resignation of BJP's Amritsar-East MlA Navjot Kaur Sidhu from the primary membership of the party, Badal said that any leader who backstabs his or her mother party loses credibility amongst the people.
“I have always supported Sidhu to ensure development in her constituency,” he added.