Amarinder alleges selective invitees for Anandpur's 350 aniv

Accusing the ruling Akali Dal of partisan politics, Amarinder Singh today questioned the "selective invitation" to leaders for participating in the function to mark the 350th Foundation Day of Shri Anandpur Sahib.
The Congress leader said that the entire expenditure incurred on holding the function should be borne by the Akali Dal since the Badals had "turned it into a party function instead of the state function by restricting the invites to select few who included their own party leaders or the allies".
Amarinder said, by not inviting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the function, the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has committed a great blunder.

"Not that Dr Singh is a Sikh, his contribution to Punjab has been immense", he said, while stating that, "... He (Manmohan) helped in recognition of Sikh identity world over when Sikhs were being targeted in hate crimes in mistaken identity".
Amarinder asked, why only Akalis were "invited", what about those Sikhs who have made their mark in the world and done the community proud.
"Didn't they deserve to be invited, didn't they deserve to participate in the function or just because they were not Akalis and hence were left out?" he questioned

However speaking at the function at Sri Anandpur Sahib, Chief Minister Badal made it clear that everyone had been invited for the historic function that included MLAs cutting across party lines.

In his speech, CM Badal without naming anyone, hit out at those who were trying to dub today's occasion as "Panthic agenda" of the ruling SAD.
"I was reading things like these which were written in a newspaper. If such false and disinformation is spread, what will happen to this country then," he questioned.
He also claimed that another newspaper report had dubbed today's function as "SAD's show of strength".
He said that holy land of Anandpur Sahib was not simply a town, but a thought, a philosophy."There was a need to imbibe the message given by our Gurus to preserve the unity and integrity of this nation," he added.