People's Party of Punjab (PPP) chief Manpreet Singh Badal on Monday said the hostile reception to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leadership among the Punjabi diaspora abroad was a reflection of everything that was wrong in the state for which the rulers were directly responsible.
He said the priority of the rulers was to promote own business interests rather than the prosperity of the people.
"Rather than sending the SAD delegations, including ministers, abroad to propagate the achievements of the state government, deputy chief minister and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal should have the courage to go to the US and Canada and face the Punjabi diaspora," Manpreet said in a statement here.
"The SAD at one time had its units in several countries but the irony is that its president now dare not go to the countries where Punjabis are settled in large numbers. It is a different matter that he keeps visiting unknown destinations abroad almost regularly but clandestinely," the PPP chief said.
He said the Punjabi NRIs were disgusted with the state having been "turned into a drug haven" and this perception had been strengthened the way the issue was being given priority by the alliance partner, the BJP, which had launched a sustained campaign against the drug menace. Manpreet said in case it was a mere propaganda to malign the state, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal should have corrected union home minister Rajnath Singh when the latter expressed his deep concern over the issue at the Anandpur Sahib congregation on June 19.
{{/usCountry}}He said the Punjabi NRIs were disgusted with the state having been "turned into a drug haven" and this perception had been strengthened the way the issue was being given priority by the alliance partner, the BJP, which had launched a sustained campaign against the drug menace. Manpreet said in case it was a mere propaganda to malign the state, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal should have corrected union home minister Rajnath Singh when the latter expressed his deep concern over the issue at the Anandpur Sahib congregation on June 19.
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