SAD STEALS THE SHOW AT BJP’S JALANDHAR RALLY
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday stole the show at a state-level rally of its ally the BJP that failed to gather an impressive crowd. The SAD, on the other hand, has been getting a good response at its “pol khol” rallies across Punjab.
JALANDHAR:The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday stole the show at a state-level rally of its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that failed to gather an impressive crowd in what was supposed to be a massive show of strength.
The SAD, on the other hand, has been getting a good response at its “pol khol” rallies across Punjab.
Amid much hype, the BJP had planned the ‘Bajao dhol, kholo poll’ rally on the instance of Union minister and state BJP president Vijay Sampla in its bastion Jalandhar on the pattern of SAD rallies to expose the failures of the Congress government after a year of coming to power.
To start the rally, Sampla waited for SAD president Sukhbir Badal, who along with former minister Bikram Singh Majithia arrived at the venue late by two hours.
On their arrival, Akali workers raised pro-party slogans.
Interestingly, Sukhbir was the last to address the rally even as he was invited by the host to speak before Sampla.
“Though Sukhbir ji was invited first to address the rally but in Punjab the Akali Dal is our big brother. The senior-most leader always addresses the rally at last,” said Sampla amid slogans by Akali workers.
A former BJP minister said, “It was a BJP show but the SAD leaders dominated the rally which is unfortunate. The way the stage was filled with SAD leaders, it looked more like an Akali show,” he said.
SAMPLA CLAIMS STRONG BASE IN PUNJAB
While addressing the gathering, Sampla asked Sukhbir to tell his party leaders that the BJP now has a strong base in Punjab.
“SAD leaders usually say that the BJP doesn’t have a strong base in Punjab, but that is not true anymore. We will jointly work to free Punjab from Captain,” he said. On Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s apology tendered to Majithia, Sukhbir said the Delhi CM did so as he is afraid of going to jail.
CONG GIVES DUMMY ₹15 L CHEQUES TO BJP WORKERS
Local Congress leaders held a protest here and handed over dummy cheques of ₹15 lakh to the BJP workers going to attend the rally. Congress workers led by party’s Punjab vice-president Himanshu Pathak organised a “Chaar Saal Loutu Sarkaar” rally. Pathak said the BJP government had promised that they will disburse ₹15 lakh in everyone’s account but they have failed to fulfil their any promise.
They also distributed ‘pakodas’ to the BJP workers under “Pardhan Mantri Pakoda Rozgar Yojna” during the protest.