Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal today questioned the Akali Dal on the renewed attack by BJP’s three time MP Navjot Singh Sidhu describing the Akali leaders as ‘Looteras’ saying the reiteration of the corruption charges was now in the public domain and not confined to being the personal view of this senior leader.
In a statement, Manpreet said as the Akali Dal lodged complained to the alliance partner, the BJP, about the outburst of the BJP leader who had ridiculed the Akali slogan of “Raaj Nahin Sewa” at Ludhiana yesterday and further raised the pitch in the evening by saying that the “looteras”(robbers) he referred to were the Akali Dal leaders who had exposed themselves by reacting adversely to his observations. Navjot said in the evening that it was not he who had named the Akalis but by reacting in this fashion, they identified themselves thus proving his charge.
Manpreet said Navjot Sidhu was not just ordinary former MP but was the leader who had been assigned duty by the BJP high command as the star campaigner in the recent Haryana elections where it was for the first time that the alliance partner fired salvo after salvo against the Akali leadership which had supported the Indian National Lok Dal with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal justifying it citing family ties.
Manpreet questioned the very tenability of the alliance with the leaders between the two parties trading charges openly. He recalled that it was not just Navjot but the leaders from the two alliance partners had also levelled allegations and counter-allegations against each other. While the Akali leaders dubbed BJP’s Minister Anil Joshi as corrupt, the BJP attacked the Akalis as mafia controlling drug smuggling and what not.
The PPP chief pointed out that Navjot had been levelling similar charges against the Akali leadership during the campaign in Haryana but at that time, there was little reaction. The charges levelled by him could not be rejected as the outburst of a frustrated person who was denied ticket in the last Lok Sabha election. Had that been the case then he would not have been assigned an important role in Haryana elections.
Manpreet said Navjot was only articulating what was the collective perception among the people who were totally fed up with the functioning of the Akalis at every level. “You need to go to a police station to lodge a complaint to understand the extent of corruption at the grassroots, forget what is happening at the higher levels”, he added.
