Chandigarh, May 8
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today announced it would contest the forthcoming elections to 102 Nagar Council and nine Municipal Corporations on the party symbol.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the party’s halka incharges and district presidents which was presided over by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The meeting also decried the manner in which custodians of Sri Guru Granth Sahib including granthis and gurdwara committees were being targetted for punishment under the new anti- sacrilege law passed by the AAP government. It said while it wanted the most severe punishment to be awarded to those indulging in sacrilege of the holy book, granthis and gurdwara committees should not be persecuted in such cases.
Giving details, senior SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema also castigated Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for twisting the meaning of “custodian” in the anti – sacrilege act to befool the people.
Dr Cheema disclosed that the meeting also authorised all halka incharge to appoint Block Level Agents (BLO) to assist in the SIR exercise in the State. He said the BLO would assist people in case of any wrong deletion of votes or any other problem during the conduct of SIR.
The SAD leader said the meeting took strong notice of the breakdown in the law and order situation in the State. He said recent bomb blasts near the BSF headquarters in Jalandhar and the Army headquarters in Amritsar had proved that no one was safe. He said instead of owning moral responsibility for the incident the chief minister had resorted to a blame game without presenting proof of the same. “It is surprising that while the chief minister is blaming the BJP led central government for the blasts the State DGP is holding Pakistan based agencies responsible for the same.
Dr Cheema said the meeting had also noted that it was for the first time in the history of the State that people were witnessing a rain of notes. He said the very fact that persons linked with the chief minister’s OSD and State AAP president Aman Arora were involved in such corrupt activities pointed out to the fact that this corruption was being committed by the very top persons in AAP.
Talking to newsmen after the meeting, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the chief minister, his personal staff, and the AAP leadership were all neck-deep in corruption. He said the so-called “Shukrana Yatra”being undertaken by Bhagwant Mann was nothing but a distraction. “Deploying over 1,000 cops in every district shows how scared the CM has become of his own people”, he added.
