Alliance with BJP in Punjab intact: SAD chief

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday said that his party alliance with the BJP in Punjab was intact, as it has been for 20 years.

"I have been hearing for the past 20 years that the alliance between both the parties is breaking. It is intact, as it has been for the past 20 years," he told the media here.

His wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal is a Union Minister in the Narendra Modi-led Central government.

"The SAD-BJP alliance is necessary to bring peace and prosperity in the state," he said.

Slamming the rebel Akalis, he said they were part of the Congress' 'B team' that aimed to weaken the "original" SAD which was formed a century ago.

Ridiculing the SAD's claim that it had chosen not to contest the Delhi Assembly polls due to differences with the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh last week challenged the Akalis to quit the alliance at the Centre to prove their sincerity with regard to the legislation.

"Why don't you (Akalis) walk the talk and show the people of India that you really stand against the divisive and destructive CAA?" the Chief Minister had asked, urging Harsimrat Kaur Badal to immediately resign in support of the stated stand on the controversial legislation.

The SAD had also made it clear that NRC should not be implemented. "People of India cannot be made to stand in queues to prove that they are Ind."

( With inputs from IANS )