SAD to go with BJP's choice of prime ministerial candidate

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said that being a key ally of the NDA, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) would go with BJP's choice for prime ministerial candidate.

He told reporters here that though the issue of prime ministerial candidate was an internal matter of BJP, the SAD would support any person selected by BJP as its candidate for the top post.

85-year-old Badal had earlier welcomed BJP's decision to anoint Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as Chairman of its Election Campaign Committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and described it as a "master-stroke and knockout punch" against a staggering UPA government and Congress.

He said the SAD-BJP alliance was very firm and as a part of NDA they would ensure that Congress was routed in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"We will extend fulsome support to BJP on whatever they decide on the prime ministerial candidate," he said.

To a question, the Chief Minister categorically said all the decisions in the state government were taken unanimously by SAD-BJP leaders and there was hardly any difference between them on any issue.

Slamming the UPA for effecting yet another fuel price hike, he said, "the Congress-led Union government is more worried about the profit of the big oil companies than the welfare of the common man.