Captain Amarinder Singh said Shiromani Akali Dal has become politically irrelevant now
New Delhi / Chandigarh:
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh called Shiromani Akali Dal’s decision to leave the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) a “hopeless case of political coercion” for the Badals. The chief minister said the Badals “actually had no other option after the BJP’s public criticism of SAD on farm bills.”
At a meeting this evening, Akali Dal’s highest decision-making body unanimously decided to withdraw from the BJP-led NDA due to the centre’s “stubborn refusal to give statutory legislative guarantees for protect the assured marketing of farmers’ crops at minimum support prices “.
The meeting was chaired by Akali Dal chairman Sukhbir Singh Badal, and the decision to leave the NDA came at the end of the meeting which lasted more than three hours.
Amarinder Singh said there was “no moral basis involved in this decision” by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
“The Akalis had no choice before them, as the BJP had already made it clear that it held SAD responsible for not convincing farmers of the goodness of the agricultural bills. The SAD’s decision to leaving NDA was just the culmination of their saga of lies and deception, which ultimately led them to find themselves cornered on the issue of bills, ”said the Chief Minister.
“Sukhbir Singh Badal has been caught between the devil and the deep sea after his initial unprincipled stance on farm ordinances, followed by the sudden turnaround in the face of farmers’ protests,” said Amarinder Singh.
“The Akalis are now going to find themselves in a bigger political mess now, having no place in either the Punjab or the center,” Amarinder Singh said.
Akali Dal becomes the third major ally of the NDA to withdraw from the group after the Shiv Sena and the Telugu Desam Party in recent years.
Sukhbir Singh Badal said Akali Dal was BJP’s oldest ally, but the center did not listen to him by honoring the feelings of the farmers.
