‘Must defeat forces bent on breaking Sikh institutions’

Badal alleged that the law and order situation has collapsed completely in the state and that the SAD was holding a meeting of its core committee on Thursday to decide on the next course of action to “force the AAP government to wrest control of the state from the hands of gangsters”. He said, “Investment has already stopped coming to Punjab.

Even ordinary businessmen are shifting base to Haryana. Extortion calls have become the norm and people are too afraid to go to the police. Such a state of affairs has never been witnessed in Punjab.”

The SAD president said that it was shameful that Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar had referred to all transporters as mafia. He said, “Punjabis have done well in the transport sector in the country and even abroad. They have done so by the dint of their hard work. It is condemnable that they were described as ‘mafia’, a word associated with criminals.”

The SAD president also accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of failing to protect the rights of Punjab. He said, “The CM failed to protect Punjab’s rights vis-a-vis management of Bhakra Beas Management Board and on the issue of allocation of land to Haryana in Chandigarh to construct a separate Vidhan Sabha. Now, the AAP government has also failed Punjab officers posted in Chandigarh who are being marginalised to insignificant posts and even being relieved from duty as in the case of Punjab cadre officer Kuldeep Singh Chahal who was removed as SSP, Chandigarh.”