Sukhbir seeks votes to strengthen regional party

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday sought votes for his party’s nominee in the Ludhiana West Assembly constituency to strengthen the regional party.

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Campaigning for Parupkar Singh Ghuman for the June 19 bypoll, he said: “Only a regional party can fulfil aspirations of Punjabis and resolve pending issues, besides providing people-centric governance. Parties from Delhi only exploit Punjab.”

Training guns on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the previous Congress governments in the state, he accused them of acting like the erstwhile East India Company.

The SAD supremo said the Ludhiana West byelection has given voters an opportunity to take the AAP government to task and begin its ouster from the state. “Punjab had never suffered so much...the law and order situation has reached such an alarming stage that businessmen are opting to invest in other states as extortions and targeted killings have become the norm,” he said.

Reminding the people of the previous SAD regimes in the state, Sukhbir said: “Our guiding philosophy is ‘sarbat da bhala’. We value and respect each community.”

He also invoked his late father and five-time Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to remind the voters about developments undertaken during the previous governments led by him.