Sidhu will be non-player in Punjab elections, says Sukhbir Badal

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday said that cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who resigned from BJP recently, will not have any bearing on the assembly elections in the state next year.

During a discussion in Agenda Aajtak event here, Badal, also the President of the Akali Dal, said that Sidhu did not have any ideology to follow since he was about to join Congress, to whom he criticised earlier.

"I have no grudge against Sidhu. I always supported him. However, he criticised me to remain in the news. I do not think he will make any impact in the election. He will be a non-player. Now, he is interested in Congress. He had criticised Congress earlier. He had bargained with Aam Adami Party. What could be his ideology since he has put himself in the market for bargain?" he said.

Dismissing Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party leader, he said it "will not win over nine seats in the election".

Badal also said that the Punjab was being shown in the bad light over drug issue. He tried to pass the buck to the Border Security Force (BSF) for the failure in controlling the drug menace.

"Since there are no sand dunes or marshy land like in Gujarat and Rajasthan and strong army presence like in Jammu and Kashmir, drugs are smuggled into Punjab from Pakistan easily. Our police do not have access to the area of 10 km from the border. Yet, our police took strict action, preventing drug smuggling to Delhi, Mumbai and Goa," he said.

"We carried out drug test in which about four lakh people participated but just 1.26 per cent were found positive. News media has shown the youth of Punjab in bad light. We will leave politics if even 10 per cent of population of any village is found positive."

Badal said his father and Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal would head the state again if the party is voted back to power.

--IANS

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