Punjab will teach Sidhu a lesson for treachery: Badal

Chandigarh, July 28:  Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, unhappy with rebel BJP leader vjot Singh Sidhu, said on Thursday that the people of Punjab will teach the former cricketer a lesson. In a scathing attack, Badal said people “would not forgive Sidhu and teach him a lesson for treachery because they dislike anyone who deceives his party”.

“Opportunists and fugitive political leaders like Sidhu have no place in Punjab politics and people will teach him a befitting lesson,” Badal told a gathering in Barla district. Sidhu, a former MP, will meet the same fate as that of former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barla and former Minister Manpreet Singh Badal who were sent to political oblivion by people for ditching their mother party, said Badal, the oldest serving Chief Minister of the country.

While Barla left the origil Akali Dal, Manpreet Badal — an estranged nephew of Chief Minister Badal — quit in October 2010 following differences with his uncle. “Bereft of any ideologies, both these leaders have backstabbed their mother parties. Sidhu is not an exception. Though Sidhu had deceived his party in the hope of a ‘bright future’, people of the state have a strong dislike for people who deceive their parties,” Badal said.

Sidhu, who quit his Rajya Sabha seat to which he was nomited by the BJP in April, announced on Monday that the reason for his resigtion was because he was told to stay away from Punjab politics. Sidhu, a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar, had run-ins with the Akali Dal leadership, especially the Badal family. (IANS)