With the Sentence Review Board (SRB) headed by Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain deferring the decision on the early release of Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar, a 1993 Delhi bomb blast case convict who is currently lodged in Amritsar jail, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday said by blocking Bhullar’s release, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal has “finally bared his true anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab fangs”.

In a statement this evening, the SAD chief said, “Kejriwal’s hypocrisy and villainy stands exposed and his side-kicks in Punjab, Bhagwant Mann and Harpal Cheema (both AAP Punjab leaders), have now a lot to answer for to the Punjabis in general and to the Sikhs in particular on their party’s anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab role.”

Reacting to the refusal of the Delhi government’s review committee to recommend an immediate release of Bhullar, Badal described it as “the first shock of reality check to those who were foolish enough to trust Kejriwal’s promises on Bhullar during the Assembly poll campaign in Punjab and didn’t believe us when we pointed to his anti-Sikh communal mindset”.

“The man (Kejriwal) is full of venom for the Sikhs. I am afraid more shocks to AAP supporters will follow soon,” said the former deputy CM pointing to Kejriwal’s stand against Punjab on river waters and other issues.

Badal said Kejriwal kept lying to the Sikhs and befooling them with fake, villainous smiles all through the election campaign, saying that he had ordered the review committee to meet and reconsider its earlier decision blocking Bhullar’s release. “But as soon as the elections are over, he has been quick to reveal his true feline colours, and it has not even taken him long to do so. The cat is truly out of the bag,” he said.

The Akali chief reminded Punjabis that Kejriwal had first denied that Bhullar’s case was under the purview of his government and had claimed that it was for the Union government to decide.

“It was only after we exposed him by releasing copies of his own government’s orders on the matter that he smiled sheepishly and admitted that it was indeed his government that had blocked the release. He, however, promised to get the decision reversed by the Committee headed by his home minister Satyendar Jain,” Badal said.

The SAD president said Bhullar has served his full sentence and is in poor state of health. “And yet this heartless AAP convener has no humanitarian bone in his body,” he added.