Defeat Delhi-based parties to bring focus back on Punjab: SAD chief Badal

Raikot/Jagraon, Apr 6 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal Saturday appealed to the people of the state to support his party and defeat Delhi-based parties to bring the focus back on Punjab.

During the Raikot and Jagraon leg of his ongoing ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’, Badal said, “While the SAD is known to put Punjab first and safeguard the interests of the state, Delhi-based forces are known to always discriminate against Punjabis.”

Asserting that the SAD was the only party which stood for the welfare of all sections of people, Badal said, the party has helped the poor and farmers by bringing in novel ‘aata-daal’ and ‘shagun’ schemes and by giving free power to farmers. “We are also responsible for introducing old age pensions in the state,” he said.

Badal said both the Congress and AAP had done “nothing” for the state.

“I am on record of having asked the Congress legislature party leader on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha to name one big development work done by the erstwhile Congress government and received an answer that the government did patchwork of roads,” the SAD chief said.

“This AAP government has not even done patchwork of roads, all of which are in shambles, as are the civic amenities in all towns and cities,” he said.

Stating that both the Congress and AAP were in an “unholy alliance”, Badal said, “Attempts are being made to fool Punjabis with a mock fight in Punjab, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann sharing the stage with the Congress in Delhi.”