Badal Snr Still Young Enough To Continue

[Azaad]

President of the SAD Sukhbir Badal today sent out mixed signals on his future after being sworn in as member of the state legislative assembly. While he was clear that his father Parkash Singh Badal was “very young” when asked about his chances of taking on the mantle of Chief Minister, in reply to another query about the demand from the youth for the same he said, “as party president I will ensure their sentiments are implemented”.

Earlier, Sukhbir was sworn in as member of the legislative assembly along with Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Jasjit Singh Bunny. Sukhbir and Sekhwan arrived together for the ceremony held at the Vidhan Sabha while Bunny arrived separately. After the ceremony, Sukhbir sat with Sekhwan and Bunny went up to him twice to shake hands for the benefit of the cameramen.

Party leaders thronged the Vidhan Sabha to congratulate Sukhbir. BJP leaders, including Balramji Das Tandon, BJP state president Rajinder Bhandari and senior minister Manoranjan Kalia also attended the function.

Later, talking to The Tribune, Sukhbir, when questioned on the chief ministership issue, said his father was “very young” and was taking the party forward in a proper manner. “He has the capacity to work like a 16 year old.” However, when questioned that there was a demand from the youth that he took over as Chief Minister, he said: “As party president I will ensure their sentiments are implemented”.

Sukhbir’s swearing in as Deputy Chief Minister may, however, be a quiet affair. Party sources said it would not take place at the PCA stadium.

The SAD chief made it clear that the party would resort to all “constitutional means” to thwart the establishment of a separate gurdwara committee for Haryana. He claimed that six of the 12 SGPC members from Haryana did not support the demand. “Twelve out of the 18 prominent Sikh institutions in Haryana also do not support a separate committee for Haryana”, he said. Sukhbir also claimed that a referendum on the issue as proposed by the Haryana government would not work, as it was difficult to ensure the genuineness of any such exercise.