Launching a scathing attack on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal, Congress’ senior leader and Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday accused him of reneging on his offer to quit the coveted post.
Also targeting Sukhbir’s father and five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Sidhu said that Akali patriarch was “so engulfed in his love for his son that he had been behaving like Dhritrashtra by being blind to the reality’”.
“SAD president Sukhbir Badal has become adept at belting out packs of lies and has reneged on resigning as is evident from his statement that he is ready to resign if the party wills it so,” said Sidhu in reaction to Sukhbir’s assertions that SAD was nobody's personal fiefdom and he was ready to quit his post the moment his party wishes so.
Sidhu and his wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu had been the targets of attack by the Akali Dal which had sought Sidhu's dismissal and lodging of an FIR against his wife for Amritsar train tragedy which left about 60 people dead and scores injured.
Describing the revolt by Taksali (traditional Akalis) leaders as “unprecedented”, Sidhu said that Taksali leaders such as Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Rattan Singh Ajnala and Sewa Singh Sekhwan, who all are core committee members, had voiced their “disenchantment” with the way SAD chief was functioning like a “dictator”.
“The writing on the wall is clear for the Badals,” he said while asking what kind of democracy the Badal family was practising that the party's all posts and power have been usurped by the family, “with others treated like nothing”.
He asked why Harsimrat Kaur Badal was preferred over experienced leaders at the time of formation of Union Council of Ministers in 2014. “The truth is that the strings of Sukhbir are pulled by Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia while Badal makes guest appearance,” he quipped.
Sidhu accused the Badal family of turning the century-old party into a private limited company. “The Badal family amassed a huge fortune by looting Punjab as is evident from the five-star hotels owned by the family while in power,” he said.
Castigating senior Badal for speaking “blatant lies”, Sidhu said that the entire family is stooping to the lowest level of politics. “At 93 years of age, Badal goes to the Governor and demands action against me, but the Court has shown mirror to the Badals by dismissing the petition demanding action against me,” he said.
Sidhu said that Parkash Singh Badal did not care to visit Amritsar even once after train tragedy and was instead pointing fingers at him. “The truth is that the Badals want to deflect attention from their role in Bargari incident, but the people of Punjab have seen through their devious ploy and will give them a befitting reply,” he said.