Farmers Movement Archive

Sukhbir Singh Badal proved SAD is family-run: BJP

CHANDIGARH: SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal’s announcement of him contesting the assembly elections-2021 from Jalalabad and Virsa Singh Valtoha from Khemkaran proves again that the party has no democratic set up and is driven by a family, BJP’s Punjab affairs in-charge and Rajya Sabha member Dushyant Gautam said on Monday. “We are a democratic party and it is the parliamentary board in the BJP which takes the final call about ticket distribution. But SAD is controlled by a single family,” he told TOI. The BJP leader said that as soon as the legislative assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are over, the party would hold meetings in Punjab to finalise the strategy as well as contestants for the assembly polls scheduled early next year. The SAD broke its over two-decade old alliance with the BJP in September last year over the contentious issue of farm laws. Another senior party leader Harjit Singh Grewal said, “SAD is a party run by the father-son duo. It is for the people to decide whether they want prosperity of a family or the state.” He said the SAD president was taking such decisions in a hurry as he has realised that the party’s foundation was crumbling. Asked whether the Punjab BJP leaders were also campaigning in the West Bengal elections as the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) farmer leaders, including Balbir Singh Rajewal, have been opposing the BJP in West Bengal, Gautam said the party had mainly deputed leaders from the neighbouring states. On this issue, He added that the so-called farmers’ leaders were just fulfilling their political aspirations by firing from the farmers’ shoulders. BJP general secretary in Punjab, Jeevan Gupta said the party’s senior leadership addressing rallies in West Bengal has already been setting the record state and farm leaders would not be able to mislead the people there. “Even people across the country are now aware that these protests have become political in nature, just to oppose the BJP and weaken the central government,” he said. Gupta added that as soon as other political parties — SAD and Congress — started realising that the BJP would emerge as a strong party in Punjab and their leaders might switch over to the BJP, they started opposing the saffron party. The BJP in Punjab is already strengthening its organisational set up right up to the booth level and would contest the next assembly poll from all the 117 segments, he added.

The Times of India

2021-03-16

Chandigarh