Won’t stoop to such level: Badal

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 19

A day after Chief Parliamentary Secretary ( Health) Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu of the BJP blamed the SAD for the attack on her husband Navjot Sidhu’s convoy in Jammu, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal rubbished the allegations as “false and far from the truth”.

He maintained the SAD-BJP ties in Punjab as well as at the Centre were as strong as ever, despite the adverse media reports.

The ChiefMinister denied that the SAD had anything to do with the attack on Sidhu’s vehicle. “We will never stoop to such a level,” he claimed during his visit to Nabha today.

“We do not believe in using force or violence against anyone”, he said. Dr Sidhu had yesterday claimed that with thousands of people attending her husband’s rallies in Jammu, the SAD had become jittery. It had plotted attacks on her husband. She alleged that the SAD had instigated deras and other Sikh organisations to hold protests.

There have been reports on the rift between the SAD and the BJP widening. BJP workers yesterday boycotted the flag-off ceremony of the Bathinda-New Delhi Shatabdi by Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

They were angry that government advertisements in various newspapers about the function did not carry the photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. Earlier this week, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, had avoided the media during his Nabha visit for kabaddi matches. The CM’s visit today was kept under the wraps, too.