Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday appealed to Punjabis to elect the right leader and combination to power, stating Punjab had gone back by five years by trusting Captain Amarinder Singh and could not take another risk by reposing faith in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Addressing public meetings in Batala, Badal said electing the right chief minister is very important. “You have yourself witnessed how Captain Amarinder Singh refused to lead from the front and Punjab went down under his leadership,” he said.

The SAD chief said while Amarinder’s replacement Charanjit Singh Channi has already been exposed as the leader of a mafia ring after the recovery of Rs 10 Crore in cash and jewellery from his nephew Honey, AAP chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann was a dummy.

Badal said in such a scenario the only way forward for Punjabis was to again repose faith in the SAD which was already marching towards a clean sweep in the State in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He said people had seen the track record of the erstwhile SAD-led governments which had brought in all-around development besides unique social welfare benefits and also assured peace and communal harmony in the state.

“The SAD also stands for safeguarding the regional aspirations of Punjabis and it alone has always fought for the rights of Punjabis. Outsider parties like AAP have always tried to sell off your rights as you have witnessed in the case of the State’s river waters,” he added.

Asking people not to be taken in by the mischievous propaganda of AAP, Badal said “AAP has spent Rs 850 crore revenue of the Delhi government on advertisements in Punjab. Tomorrow if it annexes Punjab it will use its treasury to contest elections in other states”.

The SAD leader said AAP was using Punjab as a cash cow to collect money in the same way it had done in 2017.

“AAP has collected crores of rupees from each candidate by selling off its party tickets to them. It has even lowered the standard of politics by giving party tickets to candidates who have heinous cases registered against them. All six of its party candidates in Ludhiana have criminal cases pending against them. It even gave the party ticket to a former Akali who was expelled from the party for swindling farmers. Such a party cannot be trusted with your vote”, he added.