Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia will contest the Punjab Assembly election against State Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, said SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday. “Bikram Singh Majithia will contest against Navjot Singh Sidhu to dismantle his arrogance in this Assembly elections,” Badal told journalists. Sidhu has retained his candidature from his traditional seat of Amritsar East for the upcoming state Assembly elections. Amritsar East Seat is in the Malwa region of Punjab which has the largest share of Assembly seats and has always been a deciding region for getting the numbers to rule Punjab.
Five-time Punjab Chief Minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal will fight the Assembly elections from Lambi. Making the announcement, his son and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said they requested the party patron not to retire from active politics. The presence of Parkash Singh Badal, 94, in the fray is likely to strengthen the SAD poll effort in the tough multi-party contest in Punjab. “The entire party pleaded with Sardar Parkash Singh Badal not to retire from politics and he has acceded to our request to contest the forthcoming elections from Lambi. Badal Sahab has always been in the forefront to offer his services for the welfare of Punjab and Punjabis and he is doing so again,” Sukhbir Singh Badal said.
Sukhbir Badal added that Satinder Singh Chajjwalwadi, son of three-time legislator Ranjit Singh Chajjwalwadi, would be the party nominee from Baba Bakala seat. He also inducted the Chajjalwadi family into the SAD along with a large number of Congress sarpanch and block Samiti members on the occasion.
Hitting out at Sidhu, Sukhbir Singh Badal said his “arrogance will be his undoing”.
“He has been harping on his support among the masses. Now his support will be tested with ‘Majha da sher’ taking him on in his home constituency. He (Sidhu) should get ready to fight the brave SAD workers. We will break his arrogance by ensuring he loses his security deposit,” he said.
“We have called Sidhu’s bluster. We know he has not done anything in his constituency for the last five years. He did not do anything in his constituency even as local bodies’ minister. Amritsar East has drinking water and even sewerage issues which have not been addressed by Sidhu. Now the people of his constituency will hold him to account,” Sukhbir Singh Badal added.
The SAD president said the Congress government had targeted Majithia and even registered a “false case” against him as he had always raised the issues of the people.
Majithia is the brother-in-law of Sukhbir Singh Badal.
“Majithia is known to fight for the people. This was not to the liking of the Congress government. They have registered a false case against a Gursikh who is known to do ‘nitnem’ (Sikh hymns) for two-and-a-half hours every day,” he said.
Badal announced that the party’s chief sewadar from Amritsar East, Gurpreet Randhawa would be the election in-charge of Majithia.
Majithia was booked by Punjab Police under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at SAS Nagar Police Station on the basis of a 2018 report submitted by the anti-drug Special Task Force (STF).
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Majithia in the case.