Terming Punjab CM's dharna as luxury sit-in, Sukhbir dares Amarinder to hold protest in front of PM's residence
Nov 05, 2020
Chandigarh/New Delhi [India], November 5 : Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), chief Sukhbir Singh Badal took a dig at Punjab Chief Minister Captain (retired) Amarinder Singh and said his dharna was just a 'luxury sit-in'.
Badal also challenged the Chief Minister and said that he should hold indefinite hunger protest in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence if he really wants to take on the Centre over farm laws instead of staging one-hour luxury sit-ins.
Amarinder Singh held a dharna at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Wednesday after failing to meet President Ram Nath Kovind against the suspension of goods railway services in Punjab due to the ongoing agitation by farmers against the new farm laws.
The SAD president said it was unfortunate that instead of trying to resolve the grievances of farmers and getting inbound goods trains to Punjab restored, the chief minister was indulging in a 'tamasha' for the benefit of cameras.
"However, you cannot fool anybody with your fake mission launch from Raj Ghat as you failed to launch the real mission in the Vidhan Sabha by passing a Bill under the agriculture head which is under the State's purview and make the entire State a single Mandi. The Chhattisgarh government has done this and its Governor has also signed the Bill," Badal claimed.
Badal said if the chief minister was really serious about securing justice for the farmers of the State he should sit on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the residence of the Prime Minister.
"But he is unlikely to do so because he has already made a deal with the Centre. The deal is so strong that the Chief Minister even changed the venue of his sit-in from Raj Ghat to Jantar Mantar at the Centre's instance," he said.
The SAD president also announced support for the 'chakka jam' programme launched by the farmer organisations on November 5. He said SAD workers would join farmers in enforcing the 'chakka jam' programme and participate in it wholeheartedly.
