Conspiracy to destabilise Punjab: Sukhbir Badal

Former Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday visited the residence of BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia and asserted that the grenade attack at his place was part of a conspiracy to destabilise Punjab and destroy its peace and communal harmony.

Sukhbir asserted that Hindu-Sikh unity was rock solid and could not be broken by such cowardly attacks. Expressing shock at the manner in which Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has abrogated his responsibility, the SAD leader said, “The present conditions in Punjab are building up in the same manner as in the early 1980s. We have witnessed repeated bomb attacks on police stations in the border belt. The Thakurdwara temple in Amritsar was attacked and statues of Dr BR Ambedkar have been vandalised. Now political leaders are being targeted.” He said such provocative incidents were aimed at driving a wedge between various communities.

Sukhbir asserted that the manner in which the state had been “handed over by CM Mann to the Delhi-based AAP leaders” was unheard of in the past. Stating that there was a broader conspiracy to intimidate and even eliminate the Opposition, Badal spoke on how the Amritsar police facilitated the attack on him while he was doing ‘sewa’ at the entrance of Sri Darbar Sahib. “The Police Commissioner failed to even visit the crime spot and later deliberately filed a weak challan to ensure that the accused was able to secure bail in the case. Even though I was the victim of the attack, my statement has not been taken till now nor has any statement of my security detail been taken,” he added.