Badal rules out early polls

Asked whether the party will project Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Badal as its face in the next elections,Badal said,“I am not the party: it is for the party to decide.”

Badal also said he met his younger brother Gurdas Badal and their ties remained strong. “We are both brothers; there is no question of differences between us. I will keep meeting him whenever I go to Badal village.” Badal announced that the Punjab government would provide land for burial grounds for Christian and Muslim communities in all the towns and villages of the state. The burial ground for both these communities will be provided either from the panchayat land or,in case of non-availability of such land,it would be purchased.

Badal announced allotment of a site of 4 kanals for the construction of a church and a community hall at Mohali and directed the Chief Administrator of GMADA to immediately initiate requisite formalities for the allotment of the said plot to the Christian community.

Making a scathing attack on the Congress-led UPA government,Badal said it had miserably failed on all fronts and had become a stage for major scandals and scams instead of providing efficient and clean governance.

The UPA government had shown complete insensitivity towards inflation,thereby making the life of a common man hell,said Badal.