SAD-BJP to jointly contest 2017 Punjab polls, asserts Badal

Putting to rest speculation about the fate of the strained ties between SAD and BJP, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the alliance was "everlasting" and the two parties will jointly contest the next Assembly elections, due in 2017.
The veteran Akali leader said there was no question of parting ways and described the reports of differences as only a "media creation".
"You write it down, Akali and BJP were together, we are together and will be in future as well. We will fight the next elections together," Badal said addressing a "meet-the-press" programme at Chandigarh Press Club. The Club's 35th Foundation day will be observed on July 15.

Speaking in a lighter vein, he said there is a tendency in the media to cook up stories about the relations between SAD and BJP. "You are free to write, but put out true picture..," he asked the media.
When asked that senior BJP minister M M Mittal, who holds the Industries department, has reportedly accused the ruling Akalis of continuously interfering with his work, Badal said, "There is no question of any interference. Powers are delegated and things are absolutely clear at what level a Secretary is to decide, at what level a Minister is to take a decision..."

When reporters questioned the SAD chief about the BJP's "demand of a greater share" in number of seats for the 2017 Assembly polls, the 87-year-old five-time CM replied, "We have such a wonderful relation with BJP like one has with with one's wife (close relations). I mean it (the SAD-BJP relations) is like Ghee and Khirchi, no one can differentiate one from the other".

To a question if Deputy Chief Minister and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal will be made the state's next Chief Minister in case SAD-BJP forms the government after 2017 polls, CM Badal said "these issues are for the party to decide."

Badal also ruled out any electoral challenge from the Congress and AAP in the next assembly polls.
He, however, said, "look, no one can forsee election results. No one is an astrologer to say what will happen in one, one-and-a-half year time. But on the basis of performance of our alliance in the state, I can say that people will make a wise decision."
Hitting out at AAP, Badal said,"People have experienced and seen what happened in Delhi." "The hype and hoopla surrounding them (AAP) stood exposed," he said.
"We (SAD) don't take things for granted and do our job of serving people honestly and leave the rest to them," he said.