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Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal officially lodged a protest with Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma over the comments made by former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu in Ludhiana against the coalition government in the state.
SAD secretary and Punjab education minister Daljit Singh Cheema rang up Kamal Sharma to apprise him about the derogatory remarks made by Sidhu at a religious function in Ludhiana. Cheema said that this action of Sidhu was intolerable and against the spirit of coalition dharma. He expressed surprise that even when the BJP high command in Delhi as well as in the state had openly clarified that there was no issue between SAD and BJP, Sidhu was still speaking against the SAD leadership.
Sidhu's remarks were itself in violation of the advice of the senior BJP national leadership which has recently publicly endorsed the continuation of the alliance in Punjab. Cheema urged Sharma to take up the matter with the party high command so as to tame Sidhu; he also demanded on behalf of SAD that strict disciplinary action should be taken against Sidhu.
In a statement issued from the party head office, Cheema said that such remarks are creating bitterness in the SAD-BJP alliance and he hoped that the BJP leadership will take the matter seriously.
Earlier, Sidhu said that the state that had gone to the corrupt and the deceitful people and time had come for "Ram Rajya" to be established in Punjab. Addressing the gathering during Bhagwan Jagannath Rath Yatra in Ludhiana, Sidhu minced no words while attacking the coalition partners in the state. He quoted Gita, words of Swami Vivekanand and Bhagat Singh to build up his triage against the government at the religious pitch that was turned political much to the applause of the gathering.
Taking potshots at the government, Sidhu said that people should be ready for a war between truth and corruption. Targeting the slogan of the SAD government "Raj Nahi Sewa (service, not rule)", Sidhu said that in Punjab only 10% 'sewa' (service) was being done and 90% 'mewa' (dry fruits) was being enjoyed. These people enjoying 'mewa' have to be removed, he added. Exhorting the people to wake up against "rule of treachery" in the state, Sidhu said that the day Punjabis woke up corrupt people would hide in their snake pits.
