Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday officially declared that it would contest the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in the neighbouring Haryana. However, it is yet not clear on how many seats the Akali Dal would field its candidates.
The decision to contest Haryana state polls was taken at the party’s Core Committee meeting, chaired by SAD president and Ferozepur MP Sukhbir Badal, and attended by senior leaders including Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Hari Singh Zira, Charanjit Singh Atwal, Nirmal Singh Kahlon, Bikram Singh Majithia, Prem Singh Chandumajra, among others. The party has decided to hold a workers’ meeting at Kurukshetra on September 22 to interview candidates interested in contesting the elections, said SAD’s principal spokesperson Harcharan Singh Bains.
Bains said that a screening committee, headed by Rajya Sabha MP and party’s Haryana in-charge Balwinder Singh Bhundur, has been formed for the purpose. All candidates interested in contesting the elections had already been asked to submit their applications by September 22, he added. Regarding forging an alliance, a committee, headed by Bhunder, would hold negotiations with the Bhartiya Janata Party on seat sharing in Haryana.
The Committee Committee for Haryana poll campaign, which also includes former MP Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra and former Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra as its members, will also prepare the party's election campaign strategy. Besides, the core committee also passed special resolutions—immediate release of all Sikh prisoners languishing in different jails throughout the country despite serving their stipulated sentence, preserving and promoting Punjabi language, and demanding .
SAD, in a resolution, urged the Central Government to order an immediate release of all Sikh prisoners who are languishing in different jails throughout the country despite having served their stipulated sentence.
The party urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end “unjust and unconstitutional incarceration” of these Sikh and other Punjabi prisoners through a special announcement on the eve of the 550th parkash utsav of Guru Nanak Dev. In another resolution, the party reiterated its strong and principled commitment to the perseverance and promotion of the Punjabi language. “The party firmly believes that throughout the country, the regional languages serve as inalienable symbol of the rich multi-cultural character of our federal and democratic polity,” read the resolution.
The party also came down heavily against the Congress-led Punjab Government for “its insensitive and incompetent handling of the situation arising in the wake of floods in the State”. It said that the beleaguered flood affected people were left to fend for themselves and the government was nowhere to be seen. “The Core Committee wholeheartedly applauds the role played by large hearted and public spirited individuals, voluntary and religious organisations and institutions, notably the SGPC, for the outstanding humanitarian work done by them during this crisis”, it said in the resolution.
The Core Committee demanded award of Rs 25, 000 per acre as compensation for crop loss or damage and a matching, liberal compensatory grant to farm labourers affected by these flood. The party also demanded full compensation to all flood affected people for loss of immovable properties.
