SAD to announce name of party candidates soon: Sukhbir

The day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced its first list of candidates for the 2017 Assembly election, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal today said names of party candidates would also be announced soon.
"The SAD team is working dedicatedly to ensure proper representation of every strata of the society at the time of ticket allotment as has been the tradition of the party," he said.
Sukhbir claimed that neither the AAP nor the Congress stood a chance against the ruling SAD-BJP combine in Punjab in the upcoming polls.
"Neither the AAP nor the Congress stands even a fraction of a chance against the SAD-BJP government as it has undertaken a huge number of pro-people and welfare-oriented measures which cannot be matched by any other party," he said.

On AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal's reported plan to approach the Supreme Court regarding the Delhi High Court's verdict that the Lieutenant Governor was the administrative head of Delhi and not bound by the advices of the council of ministers, Sukhbir said every individual had the right to approach a higher court on any issue.
Reiterating the stand of the Punjab government on the emotive Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, the Deputy chief Minister said it would not allow "even a single drop" of river waters to flow out of the state.

"Punjab does not even have a single drop of water to spare and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has taken a clear stand in the Assembly that the river water interests of the state would be protected," he said.

Talking about the development-oriented initiatives of the SAD-BJP government, Sukhbir said a well laid out network of roads was the perfect testimony to its success saga as development of road infrastructure was a "pre-requisite to prosperity" of any region.
He said the state government has spent Rs 7,000 crore to ensure "full development" of rural areas.