AMRITSAR – Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the Congress was no challenge to the SAD-BJP Government as “it would die its own death due to internal dissension”. Addressing mediapersons at the Golden Temple, he said even Congress workers were aware that Pradesh Congress Committee president (PCC) Amarinder Singh had no issue and was befooling them with protest dharnas. “Everybody in Punjab knows that it was owing to pressure from the Union Urban Development Ministry that we had to levy property tax on the people and no dharna can change the real picture,” Sukhbir said.
He dared Amarinder to hold a dharna against the Centre against the proposed hike in petrol, diesel and LPG prices.
He ridiculed the PCC chief, saying he was “on the ventilator” and was struggling for political survival. Sukhbir said his government had fulfilled its promise on lowering VAT on sugar and it was now up to the traders to bring down the prices.
Sukhbir accused the Centre of deliberately delaying Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections as it feared the Congress-backed Sarna brothers would face defeat. He said it was a sad chapter in the history of the DSGMC that the Union Home Ministry was “directly interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikh community”. Earlier, accompanied by Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Animal Husbandry Minister Gulzar Singh Ranike and District Planning Committee chairman Veer Singh Lopoke, Sukhbir paid obeisance at the Golden Temple.
Mandi Gobindgarh: Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal welcomed former PCC state treasurer Joginder Pal Singla into the party fold at a function here this afternoon. He said the Congress workers’ decision to join the SAD was testimony to the confidence that people had in the SAD and its pro-people policies.
