National parties treat Punjab as province of East India Company, says SAD chief

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday attacked the national parties and said they treat Punjab as a province of East India Company and want to ''annex'' it.

He also spoke about the major infrastructure works such as flyovers, bridges, sewerage systems or beautification projects in the state and claimed that they had come about during the SAD tenure.

Badal was speaking at the welcome ceremony of former Punjab minister Jagdish Singh Garcha who returned to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) fold on Thursday after a gap of four years.

Asserting that the SAD best represented the aspirations of the Punjabis, Badal said, ''The national parties treat Punjab as a province of the East India Company and want to annex it instead of trying to win the hearts of the people of the state.'' Stating that the SAD had always stood for Punjab, the former deputy chief minister said, ''For us, the safeguarding the interests of Punjab and the Punjabis is of paramount interest. We can never compromise on the core issues of Punjab unlike the national parties.'' Lashing out at the AAP government over the law and order issue, Badal said, ''I want to assure you that once the SAD is returned to power, no gangster or their patrons will remain in the state.'' He also asserted that eradicating the menace of drugs was the number one priority of the SAD.

He said during the seven years of the Congress and the AAP rule, the city had suffered with all development works coming to a halt even as the civic infrastructure was in a ''state of mess''.

Badal also said the AAP and the Congress are indulging in a ''mock fight'' in Punjab.

He said both these parties are aligned at the Centre and that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had even shared the stage with the Congress leadership in Delhi recently.

However, both the parties are trying to ''mislead'' the people in Punjab, he added.

Welcoming Garcha and his supporters into the party fold at the former's residence, the SAD president said he was a very close associate of former chief minister and late Parkash Singh Badal. He had stood alongside him through thick and thin, he added.

Garcha, who rejoined the SAD in the presence of Badal here, had left the party in March 2020 and had joined the SAD (Sanyukt).

''It gives me great joy that the Akali family, which had parted ways from the party for some reasons, has joined the SAD fold again following my appeal to all 'panthic' forces to unite under the banner of the SAD,'' he said.

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