Sidhu unlikely to campaign for Akali candidates

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 28

Former Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu is all set to campaign for the BJP in the Delhi Assembly polls, but is unlikely to campaign in the four Akali Dal constituencies. This became evident from his tour programme of the next couple of days released by him to the media here today.

As per the programme, Sidhu will be canvassing for the BJP candidates in Mahipalpur, Palam Colony, RK Puram, Delhi Cantt, Tilak Nagar, Burari, Adarsh Nagar and Timarpur areas of Delhi on January 29 and 30. However, there is no mention of any of the SAD seats in his tour programme. The Akali Dal is contesting Rajouri Garden, Kalkaji, Hari Nagar and the Shahadra Assembly seats in alliance with the BJP. Sidhu could not be contacted for his comments.

The firebrand BJP leader had been on collision course with the Akali Dal for quite sometime now and had also targeted it during the Haryana Assembly elections last year. The Akali Dal had contested the Haryana polls in alliance with the INLD. Addressing public rallies in Haryana, Sidhu had accused the SAD of backstabbing the BJP, while stating that the SAD didn’t deserve the BJP support in Punjab. He had also accused the Akalis of planning his ouster from Amritsar as they didn’t want to see him getting elected for the fourth time in a row.

Sidhu and the SAD were at loggerheads again last month when he came under attack over the ‘Gurbani’ row while campaigning for the BJP during the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. Sidhu had blamed the Akali Dal for “engineering attack on him” in Jammu while claiming that those involved in it were proclaimed offenders from Gurdaspur. He had also stated that he never exploited religion to gratify vested interests or settle personal scores “like CM Badal”.