Badal's choice of candidates condemned

LUDHIANA: The first lady of Andhra Pradesh, Surjit Kaur Barnala, wife of the Governor of the state, on Saturday using her official position called a press conference at the Circuit house to comment on the working of the Shromani Akali Dal and the party president during her brief stop over in Ludhiana.
Condemning the choice made by the SAD President, Parkash Singh Badal while picking the two Akali nominated candidates from Sangrur and Taran Taran, the first lady said the party workers were extremely unhappy about the decisions, and had certainly asked Surjit Singh Barnala to lead a new party for them.
She said all the same while they were certainly not happy with the choice of the candidates, they could neither be termed as dissidents nor rebels in the party. All the same they would certainly not participate in the elections till amendments were made, she pointed out.
She reiterated that all the same there was rebellion amongst the party workers. She condemned the Political Action Committee''s decision to give complete authorization to the Party President to nominate all candidates by himself. She said this decision had lead in making a dictator out of him.
Surjit Kuar Barnala, also the President of the Istri Akali Dal said there was no assessment made of the potential candidates in each constituency by the Party president, which had lead to a great deal of dissatisfaction with her and her husband. She said while Surjit Singh Barnala had pointed out most of the problems to the Party President during his recent visit this week to Ludhiana, but he had failed to suitably take any action or make amendments. She said not nominating her husband’s name for the Sangrur constituency has lead to a question of survival for the family.
She also castigated Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa for opposing her husband in the past elections, and questioned his nomination from the Sangrur constituency. All the same, she reiterated that the family was not leaving the party.