Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday attacked former Rajya Sabha MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, saying that the “opportunists” and “fugitive” leaders like him had no place in the State politics and people would teach him a lesson like they taught former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala and former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal.
He said though Sidhu, with whom SAD has had a running feud, had deceived his party in the hope of a “bright future”, people of the State would not forgive him and teach him a lesson for “treachery” because they have a strong dislike for people who deceive their parties.
“Sidhu would meet the same fate as that of Surjit Singh Barnala and Manpreet Badal, who are sent to political oblivion by the people for ditching their mother party... Opportunists and fugitive political leaders like Sidhu have no place in Punjab politics and people will teach him a befitting lesson” said Badal during his Sangat Darshan programme in Bhadaur Assembly segment.
Badal said bereft of any ideologies, both Barnala and Manpreet had backstabbed their mother parties and Sidhu was not an exception.
“Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is proving to be a haven for all the fugitives and unprincipled politicians, who hardly have any base among the people…In fact, AAP is a band of opportunists and fugitives who have joined hands for looting the people of State,” he said.
“These people don’t have any ideological bonding but have joined hands in the false hope of assuming power in the State,” he added.
Making a scathing attack on the State Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, Badal said the lok Sabha MP from Amritsar had a proven anti-farmer track record.
Citing an example, he said the SAD-BJP alliance had been providing free power to farmers but during Capt Amarinder’s tenure as Chief Minister, it was discontinued, putting enormous burden on them.
Badal alleged the State Congress chief was “part and parcel” of the conspiracy to rob States water by constructing Sutlej-Yamuna link canal. “It is on record that Amarinder had welcomed the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to lay foundation stone of this canal,” he added.
lauding the Centres announcement to set up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Bathinda, he said it would prove to be a boon for the residents of Malwa region.
“It would help in imparting world class health infrastructure and services to the people of this region at affordable rates. By approving AIIMS at Bathinda, the Union Cabinet has given a much awaited gift to people of Malwa region,” he said.
Slamming the entire Opposition for defaming the Punjabis by labelling them as drug addicts, the Chief Minister reiterated that magnitude of drug problem was much less than that in many other states of the country. “Forces inimical to state are hell bent upon branding Punjabis as drug addicts just to present a wrong picture of the state before the country,” he said.