Neither NDA nor INDIA but Punjab will dictate SAD agenda and approach”: Sukhbir Singh Badal

Mansa : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said his party would stand only for Punjab, Punjabis and fight for their interests. “Our loyalty is with Punjab and not with this or that alliance. We will stick to our agenda for our own people instead toeing the agenda of any other party or alliance.
For us, it’s neither this alliance nor that but just safeguarding the pride and interests and Punjab and Punjabis that matters”. Mr Badal said that Punjab needed to be saved from conspiracies of outsiders who want to push the state back into a dark era of state repression on one excuse or the other.
“Punjab and Punjabis have to be saved from Delhi based parties who wanted to loot the State and its resources besides practicing divisive politics, even as he asserted that the State could only prosper if there was ‘bhaicharak sanjh’. The SAD president also warned the people to beware of the return of the dark era of strife and take steps to ensure this did not happen.
Addressing mammoth rallies in Sardulgarh, Budhlada and Mansa on the concluding day of campaigning in favour of party candidate Harsimrat Kaur Bada amidst slogans of ‘Vikas de Maseeha Sukhbir Singh Badal Zindabad, the SAD president said “the sea of people today as well as throughout the election campaign of the party has made it clear that there is a clear wave in favour of the SAD which will not only sweep the parliamentary polls but is headed to make the next government in the State”.
Stating that he had covered more than 80 assembly segments during the two month long Punjab Bachao Yatra which has traversed 3,200 kilometers in the State, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “this was followed by a mass election campaign which has put all Delhi based parties on the back foot.
I have talked to the Kisan, gareeb and the khet mazdoor. Interacted with traders and industrialists, I have seen the anger of the people against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government first hand. People have also come up to me and told me they feel cheated by Delhi parties including the Congress and the BJP.
The Capt Amarinder Singh Congress government refused to waive off farm loans as promised while the BJP government at the center went back on its word to make MSP a legal right of farmers besides releasing the Bandi Singhs”.
Raising the slogan of Punjab Punjabian da amidst enthusiastic slogan shouting, Mr Badal said “the SAD will neither stand with the NDA or the India alliance. We will stand with Punjab. We will raise your voice in parliament and ensure all pending issues of Punjab including safeguarding our river waters and ensuring Chandigarh is transferred to Punjab are taken up for resolution”.
Mr Badal also announced that the SAD, once it formed a government in Punjab in 2027, would introduce the death penalty for drug traffickers and gangsters. “We will establish fast track courts which will try cases against drug traffickers and gangsters within six months”. He also announced that all properties of drug traffickers and gangsters would be seized and taken over by the State.
The SAD president also announced that once the SAD government was formed, it would release a tube well connection to all farmers who did not have a tube well connection. He also announced that the next SAD government would ensure canal irrigation reached all fields in the State by laying underground pipes.
He also appealed to the people to remember June 1, 1984 when they set out to cast their votes on the same day two days from now. Showing a picture of the completely gutted Sri Akal Takht Sahib, Mr Badal said “Indira Gandhi mercilessly destroyed Sri Akal Takht Sahib in this manner”.
He said the Congress party was also guilty of engineering the genocide of Sikhs in 1984 during the course of which thousands of Sikhs were massacred on the streets of Delhi and elsewhere.Party candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal while speaking on the occasion amidst slogans of ‘Bibi teri soch te pehra devange thok ke’ , gave a detailed list of works initiated by the erstwhile SAD government in the assembly constituencies.
She said Rs 650 crore was spent on Sardulgarh alone including three new grids, ten water works, sewerage, college, sub division hospital and judicial complex. She also spoke on how the SAD government had brought AIIMS, a central university, technical colleges, airport and flyovers into the constituency.
I will ensure that in the next SAD government, Mansa is taken up for industrialization to solve the problem of unemployment in the assembly segment”. Senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia also received a rousing welcome on the occasion. Others who participated in the rallies included Dilraj Singh Bhunder, Dr Nishan Singh and Prem Arora.