SAD puts 'Gal Punjab Di' campaign on hold for 6 days, says doesn't want confrontation with farmers

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday put on hold for six days his party's poll outreach campaign 'Gal Punjab Di' and formed a committee to hold talks with farmers to reiterate Akalis' ''unflinching support'' for their agitation against the Centre's three farm laws.

The Shiromani Akali Dal chief said the party did ''not want to come into any confrontation with the farmers''.

A group of farmers allegedly tried to force their way inside the venue of a SAD event, where Badal was speaking, in Punjab's Moga district on Thursday. Police resorted to baton charge and used a water cannon to disperse the farmers.

Four protesters and three policemen were stated to have been injured in the incident. Some vehicles were also damaged in the incident, while some protesters allegedly mangled hoardings and banners put up for the SAD rally.

In a statement on Friday, Badal said the 'Gal Punjab Di' campaign, under which he is undertaking a 100-day yatra across 100 constituencies, would resume on September 11 from Amloh.

He also announced the formation of a three-member committee of senior party leaders to talk to farmer bodies to reiterate the SAD's ''unflinching support'' to their agitation against the farm laws and to eliminate any possibility of misunderstanding between the two sides.

The committee comprises Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder, former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra and party leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

''We are totally with the farmers' movement and have been backing it to the hilt. We have also backed all calls given by the Samyukt (Kisan) Morcha and will continue to do so... We do not want to come into any confrontation with farmers,'' Badal said.

The SAD chief cautioned the people of Punjab against a ''deep-rooted conspiracy'' by ''anti-Punjab, anti-farmer and anti-Sikh forces'' to vitiate the atmosphere of peace and communal harmony and ''engineer fratricidal bloodshed'' among Punjabis.

He alleged that these forces were acting at the behest of central agencies and had the active support of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

''They (Congress and AAP) have read the writing on the wall and want to scuttle the impending mandate of the people of Punjab by creating conditions of unrest and instability.

''All this is being done to create a justification for the imposition of the President's rule and bring back the era of state repression of the 80s and 90s in the state,'' Badal claimed.

He also accused the Congress and the AAP of making teams to ''disrupt'' functions of the SAD in the garb of farmers.

Earlier, SAD events were disrupted at Samrala, Baghapurana and Moga, he said.

Meanwhile, Anu Randhawa, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls on an AAP ticket from Ghanaur in Patiala, joined the SAD in Badal's presence.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)