Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today asked Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to conduct himself befitting the dignity of the office he holds and not allow “ an extra constitutional Super CM to treat him as a dummy and rubber stamp.”
Badal said that he had heard some “ridiculous statements” about security and cars. “Let me just remind the CM that his party president Navjot Sidhu begged for and got the same car from Captain Amarinder Singh and got even Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to intervene to secure this. He is not in government but is still using the same car”.
Badal was answering a question on the role of Navjot Singh Sidhu in governmental decisions after leading an Akali delegation to the Governor Punjab on the farmers issues, notably shockingly inadequate compensation for the lands acquired and for the losses suffered by farmers especially in the Malwa belt as a result of disease and spurious seeds and pesticides.
Badal said the Congress was insulting the scheduled caste population of the state by sending the message that Mr Channi is there only as a fifth choice and allowing him to be dominated not only by his own Deputy Chief Ministers but even people outside the government. In a lighter vein , Mr Badal said that Mr Channi should be grateful to SAD whose decisions to have a Deputy CM from the SC section forced Congress on the defensive , and Mr Channi benefited by it.
Badal said the government was calling officers and offering them powerful posts in the police as reward for their readiness to arrest Akali leaders. “Many of these officers have been calling us to tell us of the unprecedented pressure being put on them for this. I have told them not to let this worry them and do what the government tells them. But we will be watching who steps out of the constitutional line.”
Mr Badal said that this government wanted to cover its own contradictions and ineptitude with vendetta and high profile arrests. “But you cannot brow beat Akalis. You won’t succeed where even Indira Gandhi failed. From the day an Akali is born, he is ready for vendetta, repression and arrests. Fighting repression, vendetta and arrests are second nature to everyone born in an Akali family. Come , we are waiting for you, or tell us where to come. ”
Mr Badal said that recent events within the Congress have clearly shown that they are trying to divide Punjab along communal and caste lines, posing a danger to the multi cultural and secular ethos of the state handed down to us by the great Guru Sahiban and Rishis, Munis and Sufi saints. “The old Congress agenda of divide and rule is back.”
