Punjab BJP president and Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla talks to Harpreet Bajwa about the alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), his party’s strategy for the Assembly polls, electoral threat from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the drug problem in the state. Excerpts:
You hold two posts though your party’s line is one-man one-post.
It is not for the first time that a party leader has been given two posts. Sarbananda Sonowal held both the posts before becoming Assam’s chief minister.
What is your party’s agenda for the elections? There is lot of anti-incumbency against the SAD-BJP government.
We will contest on the developmental agenda, what the state government did in the last 10 years, from road infrastructure to hospitals. In the Congress tenure, not even a brick was laid. We have given maximum jobs.
BJP and Akali Dal have drifted apart so much in the last five years that there is little possibility of them coming together.
We have one heart and one mind. There can be differences, but we will fight the elections tighter. Our combine will do a hat-trick in the 2017 polls.
Why did Navjot Singh Sidhu resign from Rajya Sabha?
I never said anything to Sidhu. His stature is bigger than us. He is part of our Central leadership. He has not gone anywhere, he still is part of the party.
Is AAP such a big threat to the SAD-BJP alliance that you had to label them as separatists?
We are not afraid of AAP. It is a party of headless, thoughtless, senseless and baseless people.
You have just 12 MLAs. What will be your seat sharing arrangement with Akali Dal?
Our agenda is to do a hat-trick and win. Seat sharing is not an issue. We will contest as an alliance and bring a non-Congress government third time in a row.
Drugs is a big problem in Punjab. What is your party’s stand and strategy on this?
Punjab has being given a bad name. Yes, there is a drug problem. We are trying to solve this problem, not like Delhi where liquor vends for women have been opened. Punjab figures much lower in drug addiction than other states.