SAD to contest Punjab polls on development, peace plank: Badal

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said peace, communal harmony and development would be the main agenda of the ruling SAD-BJP combine in Punjab for the upcoming state Assembly polls.
Addressing Sangat Darshan gatherings in Patiala (Rural) Assembly segment here, he said peace and communal harmony were the "catalysts" of development and that is why the state government has accorded "top priority" to preserving and strengthening these values.
The Akali leader claimed that his government had taken "historic" initiatives for the well-being of each and every strata of the society.
He said besides strengthening the bonds of brotherhood and amity, his government had ensured "all-round" development of Punjab in the last decade due to which the state was "leading the country in every sector".

Badal said following the path of socialism and secularism, the alliance government had introduced a number of schemes such as Atta-Dal, Shagun, Pension, Mai Bhago Vidya etc. For the welfare of the weaker sections of the society.
Likewise, he said the government had performed the onerous task of preserving the glorious history of Punjab by constructing several memorials.

Badal said the government had fulfilled the long-pending desire of members of all faiths in the state of an opportunity to pay obeisance at sacred cities by launching the Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra scheme.
Under the scheme, the government was arranging free train or bus service for pilgrims, along with other logistics facilities, he added.

Lashing out at the Congress, Badal alleged that the "high-handedness" of the party with regard to the state had even surpassed "the record of the Mughals and British" as the "anti-Punjab" party had "irrelevantly meddled not only in the social, economic and political issues, but even the religious matters of the state".
He said no true Punjabi could ever forgive the party for "sins such as Operation Blue Star and killing of innocents in the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage".
The chief minister alleged that the Congress had inflicted a severe blow to Punjabis by "depriving them of their capital, legitimate share in river waters and even Punjabi-speaking areas".

He slammed the party for "hatching the conspiracy to rob the state of its waters by digging the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal".
Badal reiterated that Punjab neither had spare water to share with anyone, nor was there any need to construct the SYL canal and that "nobody would be allowed" to construct it in the future.