Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal addresses a gathering at Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Gurbaksh Singh on the 103rd foundation day of the SAD, in Amritsar, on December 14, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Ahead of the 2024 parliamentary polls, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is all set to step up its election campaign, starting with a ‘march’ through different Assembly constituencies of the State to garner votes for itself and expose the “misdeeds” of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress.
The SAD will launch its ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’ (Save Punjab) from Attari in Amritsar on February 1 and will cover 43 Assembly constituencies in a month. Party president Sukhbir Singh Badal will lead the Yatra along with senior party leaders.
SAD, which has been going through a challenging time after facing a drubbing in the year 2017 and 2022 Assembly polls, besides the poor show in parliamentary polls and by-polls as well in Punjab, appears to be making a desperate attempt to regain its relevance in State politics through the march.
“Through the Yatra, we will expose the misdeeds of both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, we will also showcase the contribution of successive SAD governments in the development of the State,” said senior party leader and former Minister Daljit Singh Cheema.
“Both the earlier Congress government as well as the present AAP government betrayed Punjabis by going back on all promises made by them, besides failing to undertake any development, employment or bettering the condition of the farmers, traders or weaker sections of society. We will go to every constituency to make them aware about the sham works done by both the Congress and AAP governments and let them know about the performance of the previous SAD governments,” he added.
The Yatra will start from Attari in Amritsar and culminate on February 28 at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district.
As the elections inch closer, the SAD has been attempting to narrow its focus on ‘panthic’ (Sikh) issues in an attempt to garner the support of the Sikh community, for which the party claims to be a sole representative. The SAD president had last month sought “forgiveness” from the Sikh community for the sacrilege of ‘Guru Granth Sahib’ that occurred during the last Shiromani Akali Dal-led government. He also apologised for not being able to apprehend and punish the culprits during the SAD government’s tenure. His apology, his request to the community to stay united under the ‘flag of panth’, and now the party’s proposed march — all these are seen as moves to revitalise the party.
