Ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, scheduled to take place next year, the political battle for the state has escalated with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal indulging in war of words on Twitter.
On Tuesday, Singh had tweeted a video of Badal and SAD leaders Parkash Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal with the caption, “Lest You Forget”. In the video, the three SAD leaders can be heard lauding the Centre’s farm bills, which later became law, leading to widespread farmers’ protests across the country, especially in Punjab and Delhi.
While the SAD later walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the Centre’s farm laws, in the old video posted by Singh, Badal can be heard saying that the Farmers' Produce, Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) ordinance would facilitate crop sale, and it did not aim to stop the purchase of crop at the minimum support price.
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In the video, Parkash Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal were seen asking farmers not to be misled by the propaganda launched by other parties, including the Congress, against these ordinances.
Snapping back at Singh for his tweet, Badal uploaded a video released before the 2017 Assembly polls in which he was seen promising farmers that the Punjab government would repay their debts taken from banks, 'arthiyas' and cooperative banks.
"Lest you forget @capt_amarinder," Sukhbir Badal said in a tweet.
The Akali Dal has been accusing the Congress-led government of not waiving farm loans completely.
The Shiromani Akali Dal last September quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the farm bills after it strongly opposed the matter in the Lok Sabha, claiming that these legislations would "destroy" the agriculture sector in Punjab.
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Harsimrat Kaur Badal had also resigned from the Union Cabinet.
(With PTI inputs)
