Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Tuesday held rallies in the Akali strongholds of Ferozepur and Bathinda, and termed SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal "corrupt and power-hungry couple".
The Congress leader asked people to defeat such leaders who "used" Punjab for promoting their "vested interests" and not for the state's welfare.
Sukhbir Singh Badal is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Ferozepur seat while his wife has been fielded from Bathinda.
Accompanied by his cabinet colleague Manpreet Badal, and senior Congress leader and Rajasthan minister Harish Choudhary, Amarinder Singh said in Bhuchho, "The corrupt and power-hungry couple needs to be taught a lesson in these elections for their attempts to divide the state on communal lines."
Canvassing for SAD rebel and Congress candidate from Ferozepur Shamsher Singh Ghubaya and party nominee in Bathinda Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the chief minister alleged that the Badal couple "made hotels and properties at the cost of the people of Punjab's people."
Amarinder Singh alleged that he has got reports that Shiromani Akali Dal leaders were "threatening" people not to vote for the Congress.
"I know how to set them right, I know how to put the Badals in their place," he said.
"If they (Badals) and other Akali leaders like Bikram Singh Majithia think they can go around scaring people into voting for the SAD, they are mistaken," Amarinder Singh said, adding, "They will all be taught a lesson in these elections."
While the Badals resorted to "sacrilege to try and divide" Punjab, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "striving to rip apart the nation's secular fabric", the Congress leader alleged.
He claimed that the SAD "misused" the Akal Takht and the SGPC.
"Nationalism is all about secularism, not about Modi's desperate efforts to take credit for the success of the armed forces," Amarinder Singh said.
"Indira Gandhi divided Pakistan but never took credit for the political establishment or for herself, while Modi, in contrast, does not tire of singing his own praise on TV," he remarked.
"No prime minister behaved so shamelessly," Amarinder Singh said.
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