Cong, SAD announce rallies in rival bastions

Akali Dal says will hold show of strength in Patiala on the same day CM Amarinder holds Lambi rally the date for which not announced yet

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday announced to hold a rally in his predecessor and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal’s constituency Lambi once the zila parishad elections are over in the state.

Though no date was given, the rally is likely to be held in the last week of September.

Hours after the CM’S announcement, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal also announced to hold a rally in Patiala on the same day.

In a press release, the CM claimed that the efforts of Badal and his son and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal to trigger tension at the Faridkot rally on Sunday failed miserably, praising people for ensuring law and order in the area.

The CM said that SAD’S Sunday rally was aimed at diverting people’s attention from the role the then CM Badal played in sacrilege incidents in 2015, after being exposed by the Justice (Retd) Ranjit Singh Commission report.

The reaction came in the wake of Badal’s two back-to-back rallies against the Congress government – in Abohar (Fazilka) on September 9 and in Faridkot on Sunday. In SAD’S ‘poll khol’ rallies held earlier, Badal had left it to party president Sukhbir to address the gatherings.

Badal has a habit of stoking communal passions by spreading a web of lies around the elections. I will expose him. CAPT AMARINDER SINGH, CM

Amarinder had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly elections from Lambi (he also contested from his home segment Patiala).

His spokesperson said Amarinder has taken a serious note of Badal’s attempts to create communal unrest in the state through his deceitful statements on the report of Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh Commission on incidents of sacrilege that had taken place during the SADBJP rule.

“Badal has a habit of stoking communal passions by spreading a web of lies around the elections. He has always used religion

to further his political ambitions. I will expose his real face before the people of Punjab,” said Amarinder.

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