AAP using religion as shield to target Sukhbir Badal, alleges SAD
Chandigarh (PTI): The Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday accused the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab of using religion as a shield to target its president, Sukhbir Singh Badal, and frame him in a false case as part of a political vendetta.
Addressing a press conference here, senior Akali leaders Balwinder Singh Bhundur, Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Daljit Singh Cheema alleged that the AAP government started targeting the SAD leadership after failing politically.
They also alleged that the attack on Badal at the entrance of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, where he was serving a religious penance (‘seva’), in December 2024, was government-sponsored, which was followed by the harassment of income tax lawyers associated with the SAD chief in Ludhiana and Bathinda.
The SAD leaders said Badal will not be intimidated by such tactics and will continue to expose the AAP government's “anti-Punjab policies”.
They also claimed that attempts were being made to link the arrest of an accountant hired by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) with the issue of 328 missing 'saroops' (sacred copies) of the Guru Granth Sahib to target Badal, alleging that the main accused in the case was a former SGPC employee now associated with the AAP.
The SAD leaders also accused AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal of pursuing a personal vendetta against former SAD minister Bikram Singh Majithia after being forced to apologise to him over alleged baseless charges.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested Majithia on June 25 last year in a disproportionate assets case that allegedly involved the accumulation of Rs 540 crore of wealth.
The SAD leaders claimed that despite intelligence inputs suggesting a threat to Majithia from the Babbar Khalsa International, adequate security had not been ensured for the jailed leader.
Alleging a threat to his life, they demanded that Majithia be shifted from the Nabha jail to a designated secure prison, warning that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal would be responsible if any harm came to him.
Cheema said a SAD delegation will soon seek an appointment with the Punjab governor (Gulab Chand Kataria) to apprise him of what he described as a conspiracy against the SAD leadership.
He also accused the AAP of targeting the SGPC, the Akal Takht Sahib and mediapersons critical of the state government.
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Bengal polls: RG Kar victim's mother files nomination as BJP candidate from Panihati
Kolkata (PTI): Ratna Debnath, mother of the raped-murdered RG Kar hospital doctor and the BJP candidate from Panihati, filed her nomination papers on Thursday.
She was accompanied by senior BJP leader and former Union minister Smriti Irani and district party leaders.
Speaking to reporters after filing her nomination, she said her sole aim is to oust the TMC regime in West Bengal, which, she alleged, would ensure women's safety in the state and prevent a recurrence of incidents like the RG Kar case.
Nearly a year and a half after the brutal killing of her 26-year-old daughter inside a locked seminar room of the state-run hospital in August 2024, Debnath agreed to contest the polls on a BJP ticket from her hometown Panihati after being approached by the party "to bring to light the truth behind the crime".
She is pitted against TMC's Tirthankar Ghosh and CPI(M)'s Kalatan Dasgupta.
