Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal welcomed Choudhary R P Singh, a well respected senior Congress leader, into the SAD on the occasion. He said R P Singh commanded immense respect amongst the Gujjar community and that the SAD would be strengthened in Balachaur with his entry into the party.
The SAD president, who toured the Balachaur and Garhshankar assembly segments along with party Sri Anandpur Sahib candidate Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, said the phenomenal response to the Punjab Bachao Yatra had made it clear that Punjabis had decided to support their own regional party in the parliamentary elections. “This is why candidates from other parties are even finding it difficult to campaign with people openly questioning them as to why they had betrayed the farmers, weaker sections and youth. Even chief minister Bhagwant Mann is finding it difficult to campaign without using excessive security force to prevent people from asking him questions about unkept promises and failures of his government”.
Asserting that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had turned desperate after coming under the onslaught of public anger, Badal said “now an attempt is being made to use money to influence the elections”. He said as per reports AAP was forcing nearly 150 big real estate developers to pay Rs 5 crore each to the party to run its election campaign. “The real estate developers are being targeted as in many cases their projects require government clearances. They are also being threatened with cancellation of their licensed besides registration of false cases against them”.
Badal announced that all such acts of corruption would be probed once the SAD formed the next government in the State. He also stated that the chief minister’s wife – Dr Gurpreet Kaur was trying to take over the cable television network and said that this, besides other acts of corruption including the excise scam, would be probed once the SAD was returned to power.
Speaking on the occasion of R P Singh’s joining, Prof Chandumajra said a large number of youth also left AAP and joined the SAD today. He said people in the parliamentary constituency had decided to teach a befitting lesson to the Congress for giving the party ticket to an outsider for the second time in the running.
Senior leaders Surinder Singh Bhulewal Rathan and Sukhdeep Singh Sukar accompanied the SAD president on the occasion.