Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday lashed out at the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre for allegedly withdrawing the Z-plus security cover to former Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia.
“The SAD condemns the arbitrary, dictatorial and politically motivated decision of the BJP-led Central Government to withdraw the Z-plus category security cover of former minister and senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia,” SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said. In a statement, Cheema, also a senior SAD leader, alleged that Majithia's security cover had been withdrawn because the party had "stood firmly with farmers" against the Centre's farm laws and the denial of the official language status to Punjabi in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the SAD had voted against the Centre's farm laws in Parliament besides quitting the Union Cabinet and the National Democratic Alliance over the issue. It is clear that Majithia is a victim of political vendetta, the statement said, adding that SAD will not be cowed down by such tactics and will continue to stand with farmers and Punjabis against the central laws as well as any other issue which weakens the federal structure or is intrinsically anti-Punjab.
Majithia is the brother of former Union Minister and SAD's Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and brother-in-law of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Cheema said Z-plus category security cover had been given to him in 2010 during the UPA rule on the basis of threat perception and sought to know what had changed suddenly that the ten-year-old cover was withdrawn on a single-line order.