Want to swap some LS seats, will talk to BJP, says Sukhbir
CHANDIGARH:SHIROMANI Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday said they want to swap some Lok Sabha seats with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming elections and will take up the issue with their coalition partner.
Talking to mediapersons while inducting two-time Congress MLA Joginder Singh Punjgrain into the party, Sukhbir said though the overall seat-sharing formula will remain the same (10 for SAD and three for BJP of a total of 13 parliamentary seats in Punjab), the issue of swapping of some seats will be discussed. Punjgrain unsuccessfully contested from the Faridkot parliamentary seat in 2014.
SAD wants to swap the Amritsar seat that BJP contested with Ludhiana, it is learnt. The other two seats the BJP contests from are Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur. Union minister of state and former BJP state chief Vijay Sampla, who represents the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha segment, wants Jalandhar for his party.
Punjgrain became MLA from the Jaito and Punjgrian segments in 2007 and 2012. Referring to cabinet ministers Manpreet Singh Badal and Navjot Singh Sidhu, Punjgrian said sycophants have hijacked the Congress and they are not letting the party to work for the poor. “I met chief minister Amarinder Singh and state party chief Sunil Jakhar, but to no avail,” he said.
‘DEVELOPMENT DURING PREVIOUS GOVT TO BE OUR POLL PLANK’
Sukhbir said development works carried out during the previous Akali-bjp government in the state will be their poll plank during the parliamentary polls. “We built roads across the state Rs 40,000 crore and our work is visible when you move around,” he claimed, adding that in the polls campaign his party would compare development work done during Akali-bjp government and present tenure of the Congress government.
TWO-TIME CONG MLA JOGINDER PUNJGRAIN JOINS SAD, SAYS RULING PARTY HIJACKED BY SYCOPHANTS