Capt. Amarinder questions Badal, Jaitely on contentious issues in BJP manifesto

Senior Congress leader and party candidate from Amritsar Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to clarify his stand on three crucial and contentious issues in the just released BJP election manifesto.

Commenting on the BJP manifesto, Capt Amarinder said, "The people of Punjab would like to know from Mr. Badal about his stand on Uniform Civil Code, abrogation of the Article 370 and construction of a temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya as announced by the BJP in its election manifesto."

Capt. Amarinder said he is asking these questions specifically to Badal since he has always been advocating a separate personal law for Sikhs, is strongly opposed to any move to abrogate Article 370 as he advocates greater autonomy for the states and has not been in favour of constructing a temple at the dispute site.

He also asked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitely to specify whether he will be advocating these issues, listed in his party's manifesto, in Punjab also.

The former Punjab chief minister alleged that the BJP has betrayed its real communal and sectarian instincts in the manifesto itself, and added that the fake facade of development the BJP is trying to project over communalism and Hindutva has already started wearing off.

He hoped that Jaitely, who is fond of discussing and debating the national issues as he has been regularly boasting about his expertise on national affairs, would spell out his stand vis-a-vis these three important issues which have a crucial bearing on Punjab as well.