Chandigarh, September 27
Describing SAD’s decision to sever ties with the NDA as “unfortunate”, Punjab BJP leaders Manoranjan Kalia and Master Mohan Lal claimed on Sunday that the party can fight and also win the Punjab assembly elections. from 2022 alone.
On Saturday night, the SAD had announced that it would leave the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the issue of agricultural laws.
The announcement was made by the head of Shiromani Akali Dal, Sukhbir Singh Badal, amid growing agitation by farmers in Punjab over the three agricultural bills, recently passed by Parliament amid opposition protests.
In reaction to SAD’s decision to sever ties, BJP senior leader Manoranjan Kalia said it was regrettable that they broke off a long association.
He said there was a generational change in Akali Dal as several high-level leaders such as Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and Sewa Singh Sekhawan, who used to work with Akali stalwart Parkash Singh Badal, have left the SAD.
“Now the second generation has taken over and some leaders are more reactive now,” Kalia said.
Kalia said that the BJP had always tried to accommodate SAD and cited an example that in 2007, the post of deputy prime minister was awarded to alliance partner Akali Dal when the government was formed in Punjab due to the good performance of the BJP in the surveys.
On the subject of the three agricultural laws, Kalia said that the Akalis had been supporting them initially, saying they were favorable to the agricultural community.
Former Prime Minister Parkash Singh Badal even made a statement in his favor, Kalia said.
“But they took a U-turn later. This is unfortunate, ”he said.
Kalia defended the farm bills, saying they were in the farmers’ interest.
“The BJP is also a farmers’ party and BJP knows how to protect the interests of farmers,” he said.
When asked about the 2022 Punjab assembly polls, Kalia said the party was ready to contest the polls alone. “We are ready. We will fight (the polls) and we will definitely form a government,” he said.
Another BJP leader, Master Mohan Lal, described Akalis’s move to withdraw from the NDA as a “hasty decision.”
Lal said that the Akalis should have held a meeting with the BJP core group.
“I don’t understand what Akalis’s compulsions were and why they made this decision,” he said.
The former minister said that the SAD and the BJP had signed an alliance for development, peace and harmony in Punjab.
Lal said that no one should take the BJP as weak.
“The BJP will win the 2022 Punjab assembly elections. Our workers and cadres are ready in 117 constituencies,” he said.
Under the arrangement, SAD used to contest assembly votes in 94 seats while BJP in 23 seats in Punjab.
Former Punjab minister Anil Joshi also said it was regrettable that the Akalis have left the alliance.
He said the agricultural bills were of interest to farmers.
“Has anyone said that the MSP, the mandi system and the acquisitions will end? Farmers are being misled and those who do will soon be exposed, ”Joshi said.
Parliament recently passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020; Draft Law on Trade in Agricultural and Agricultural Products (Promotion and Facilitation), 2020; and the Farmers Price Guarantee Agreement and Empowerment and Protection Bill, 2020.
The bills have yet to obtain the president’s consent. PTI
