Amit Shah meets Badals; BJP, SAD to form high level coordination committee

Shah also met SAD president and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal at the residence of the Badals here and discussed matters of mutual and national interest.
BJP chief Amit Shah (File | PTI)
BJP chief Amit Shah (File | PTI)

CHANDIGARH: In a  pep talk, BJP’s National President and made it clear that the saffron party is permanent ally of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and it has to work with it’s senior alliance partner SAD for the upcoming 2019 general elections and party has to do micromanagement.

Sources said that Shah which took one and half hour meeting of the party leadership including the thirteen lok sabha constituency in charges recently appointed by the party did not mince his words as he reportedly said that the party leaders have to consolidate their vote bank and have to work in tandem with it’s senior and oldest alliance partner akali dal.

As the goal was to win maximum seats from the state with support of SAD.

Before Shah spoke he listened to all the party leaders. He reportedly told them that a six member coordination committee with SAD is being formed as the party will have three members and SAD three members which will chalk out all the issues.

All the former presidents of the state unit of the saffron party were also present in the meeting.

Later, in a statement, Sukhbir Badal described the meeting as "most positive, result-oriented and fruitful."

He said that the two sides discussed a wide range of issues in an atmosphere of complete cordiality, trust and mutual respect.

Describing the Akali-BJP alliance as the oldest and the most durable in the country, he said that the coming together of these parties represented the social consensus in Punjab.

"It is much more than a political alliance and symbolises the sacred sentiment of peace and communal harmony in the state," he said.

The Akali leaders thanked the BJP-led NDA government at the centre for its magnanimous gesture of exempting all purchases for Guru Ka langar from GST.

They also thanked the Centre for allocating Rs 800 crore for sugar cane growers in Punjab out of a total of Rs 8000 crore for the entire country.

This will be a big relief for the Punjab farmers growing sugar cane, Sukhbir said.

The two sides also agreed that that the 550th anniversary of the Parkash Utsav of Guru Nanak Dev should be celebrated as a national and global event, he said.

They discussed several other political, economic and religious issues, including the farmers problems, Sukhbir Badal said.

Both sides agreed that agricultural inputs costs were rising and there was adverse market conditions for farm produce, he said.

The rate of farmers suicides in Punjab has gone up alarming during the past fifteen months, he said.

(with inputs from PTI)

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