Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal hit out at other political parties prepping to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections. The Lok Sabha MP claimed that the recently announced alliance between Captain Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress, the SAD-Sanyukt (led by Sukhdev S Dhindsa) and the BJP amounted to ‘zero’ and would not elicit results. He also lashed out at Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu, contending that the latter was “now out to shame Punjabis”.
“Combining one non-entity to another doesn’t make an entity, just as zero plus zero even a hundred times over still produces only zero. That’s exactly what Captain Amarinder Singh’s outfit plus Sanyukt Akalis plus BJP in Punjab add up to. Punjabis know at least this much arithmetic,” Badal derided in a tweet.
With mere months left before the Assembly elections, Singh had met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week. Punjab BJP in-charge Gajendra Singh Shekhawat recently confirmed that the three parties would be contesting the polls as allies with the same manifesto. Notably, the SAD had contested the previous election in alliance with the BJP. At the time, the Congress had won an absolute majority, with Captain Amarinder Singh assuming the mantle of Chief Minister.
The Akali Dal meanwhile will be contesting the upcoming election in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Badal also lashed out at Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, dubbing him a “misguided missile” who was now “out to shame Punjabis by publicly resorting to vulgarity in his frustrated, maverick outbursts”. The remarks came less than a day after the Amarinder Singh’s sharp criticism of Sidhu’s controversial “make a cop wet his pants” remark.
“He has nothing to offer Punjab except poison, hatred, limitless ego and arrogance,” Badal opined.
