The war of words between Punjab’s ruling Akali Dal and the Congress escalated on Saturday with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal accusing Congress of fomenting trouble in the state by encouraging secessionist forces, a charge rejected by the opposition party.
On a day they shifted their battle to the national capital, Badal and Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh held separate press meets here hurling charges and counter-charges.
The Akali leader alleged that Congress leaders shared stage with radical and separatist elements at a recent gathering in Amritsar, where demand for Khalistan was raked up.
Badal, who is the chief of Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), also met President Pranab Mukherjee and demanded that action should be taken against Congress and the party should be “derecognised” as it was “anti-national”. He alleged that under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership Congress was trying to create the same environment in Punjab that it suffered during the years of militancy.
Dismissing the charges that his party was supporting radical and anti-national forces, Amarinder said Badal was trying to shift the blame on Congress to hide his own failures.
“We in Congress do not need any lessons on patriotism and nationalism from someone like Sukhbir Badal, whose father and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal still takes pride in having burnt the copies of the Constitution of India during Khalistan movement,” he said. Terming the Punjab situation as “controlled destablisation by the ruling Akalis which has gone out of control”, he said the Badals were trying to divert public attention after sensing growing disenchantment with the Akali regime.