Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lambasted SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, accusing them of creating obstacles in the way of coordination between the state government and the SGPC for joint celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
Amarinder on Tuesday began campaigning for the upcoming by-elections to four assembly seats. He campaigned in favour of Congress candidate Sandeep Sandhu from the Dakha seat.
The chief minister said three of his cabinet ministers had met the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) representatives this morning and had amicable discussion on the issue.
Also, as advised by the Akal Takht Jathedar, two representatives had been nominated by the Punjab Congress to discuss the matter with the Akal Takht and the SAD, and the meetings so far had gone off smoothly, he said.
However, Sukhbir and his wife Harsimrat were trying to "scuttle an amicable settlement" of the issue at every step for their "political gains", Amarinder said, adding that the Akalis had always "exploited religion for vested interests".
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"What kind of Akalis are these? Definitely not the Taksali Akalis of the founding party," the chief minister said, dubbing the Badal couple as a "total fraud".
"Only fraud Akalis can play politics over the first Sikh Guru, who was revered the world over," he alleged.
Amarinder rejected the Akali's claims that it was the SGPC's job to conduct the Prakash Purb celebrations, pointing out that their jurisdiction lay only within the holy sanctorum sanctum.
Outside the precincts, it was the government's prerogative, which precedent also endorsed, he added.
Describing the SAD as an "unprincipled" party, he pointed to the party's "double standards" on its ties with the BJP, against which it is fighting tooth and nail in Haryana while seeking votes for its candidates in Punjab.
"This kind of petty politics had alienated them from the people and reduced the Akalis to a non-entity," he alleged, adding that given the current scenario, he does not see the SAD and the BJP being on one plank in the 2022 Assembly election in Punjab.
The chief minister also lashed out at the Akalis for their criticism of his government over "failed promises", pointing out that all promises were being fulfilled, in stages, and the remaining would also be implemented as the fiscal situation of the state improves.
The chief minister, who said he was 101 per cent confident of the Congress sweeping all the four bypolls in the state, was on a road show here to campaign in favour of Sandeep Sandhu, whom he described as a committed worker with the welfare of the people close to his heart.
On Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's statements blaming Punjab and Haryana for the high level of pollution in the national capital, Amarinder said though the stubble being burnt in Pakistan and the northern states was carrying pollutants to Delhi due to the westerly winds, it was only a small part of the problem.
The bigger issue was that Delhi had more pollution of its own than Haryana and Punjab put together, he said, accusing Kejriwal of trying to divert blame to the other states to hide his own failures.
Notwithstanding this, however, he said his government was taking all possible steps to ensure that the few misguided farmers who are still burning paddy straw in Punjab also put an end to the damaging practice.
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