Badal has failed to convince Modi on Sikh farmers issue: Bajwa

Punjab unit of Congress today said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has failed to convince his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi to withdraw Special Leave Petition filed by his government in the Supreme Court to dislocate Sikh farmers from the Kutch region.
"Badal is offering legal help for face saving," Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa said while addressing a meeting of party workers here.
Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had promised the Gujarat farmers to meet Modi and convince him to withdraw SLP which is filed against the order of Gujarat High Court, he said.
The full bench of High Court had nullified the orders of Gujarat government asking farmers to sell their land and go to Punjab because they were not Gujaratis, citing Bombay Tenancy and Agriculture lands Act 1948.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is political alliance partner of BJP in Punjab and also member of BJP-led NDA at the national level, he said, adding Sikh farmers of Gujarat had approached Badal to take up the issue with BJP leaders.
"The farmers had not approached Congress for legal help since they have hired best lawyers for their case. The farmers had rightly rejected the legal help by SAD-BJP government", he added.

"Badal has a habit of telling lies and making false promises since nobody ever dared to challenge him publicly," Bajwa said.
It was "unfortunate" that Badal had failed to understand the gravity of situation and plight of farmers, he said.

Due to his business interests in other states, Badal has no moral strength to force BJP leadership and speak for the rights of Sikhs in other states, Bajwa said.
Congress has time and again asserted that BJP was working on agenda of "anti-minorities" and "victimisation" of Sikhs in Gujarat was another example of Modi's political doctrine, he said.
Punjab was passing through a phase of uncertainty and more or less look like a "banana republic", the Congress state president said.
Bajwa also rebutted statements being made by Badal and his son Sukhbir that Centre was meddling in affairs of state.

They were finding excuses to escape public fury against poor governance, corruption, deteriorating law and order situation and bad economy, he said.