In Ludhiana today, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal opposed the land pooling policy in Jagraon. In a program organized at a private hotel on Ludhiana-Ferozepur road, he called this policy a conspiracy against the farmers. Badal alleged that this policy has been brought to benefit the builders of Delhi. He said that the owners of the lands included in this policy can neither sell their land nor take a loan on it. Farmers can only do farming. He claimed that a bribe of Rs 1 crore is being demanded to get out of this scheme. The former Deputy Chief Minister called Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann a rubber stamp of Kejriwal. He said that eight departments of Punjab are being run by Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain. They report directly to Kejriwal. Badal alleged that the AAP government is engaged in collecting money in its remaining one and a half years. He said that the command of Congress, BJP and AAP is run from Delhi. Akali Dal is the party of Punjabis. Badal reminded that out of 15 lakh tubewell connections in Punjab, 13.5 lakh were given by the Akali government. In the program, Akali workers welcomed him on his first visit to Jagraon after becoming the chief. On July 15, he will sit on a dharna outside the DC office in Ludhiana. From the stage, Badal announced that he will not sit at home for one and a half years. He will go to every village and meet people. He said that the struggle will start with a dharna outside the DC office in Ludhiana on July 15. He appealed to all the leaders of Ludhiana assembly constituency that at least 20 buses should reach the protest site from each constituency. No leader should come in a personal vehicle. He himself will also come with the workers in the bus. Former MLA SR Kaler assured him that he will reach the protest with as many workers as possible. During the program, Sukhbir Badal also met former Block Committee Chairman Didar Singh Malik on the stage. A case was registered against Malik a few days ago. There was a long conversation between the two. After the program, Sukhbir Badal reached village Malak. There he discussed the land pooling scheme with the farmers of Malak, Aligarh, Poona and Agwad Gujran villages. About 485 acres of land of these villages is coming under this scheme. Addressing the farmers, Badal appealed for cooperation. On this occasion, many senior leaders including Akali leaders Gurcharan Singh Grewal, Kamaljit Singh Malla, Deepender Singh Bhandari, Hardev Singh Bobby, Davinderjit Singh Sidhu, Chand Singh Dalla were present.
