Punjab elections 2017: Shiromani Akali Dal to announce candidates within two weeks

Shiromani Akali Dal will announce its candidates for the 2017 Assembly elections within the next two weeks, party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Monday. After welcoming the Congress leader Seth Satpal Mall into the party fold, Badal said the SAD has already conveyed to its probable candidates and the official announcement would also be made soon.

Replying to a question about the announcement of VAT rationalization in the manifesto of AAP which was launched yesterday, Badal said Kejriwal should "stop fooling people by releasing visionless manifestos".

"Everyone knows that GST is all set to replace the VAT across the nation from the next financial year but Kejriwal is talking about VAT, which shows his (lack of) common understanding about the issues pertaining to society," he said.

Describing Congress as "a sinking ship", the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab claimed that more Congress leaders would join SAD in the coming days as they were feeling "stifled" in Congress due to "factionalism". 

Satpal Mall, along with his many supporters, joined SAD in the presence of Badal at his residence in Buta Mandi in Jalandhar. Mall belongs to a traditional Congress family and is considered as an influential leader in the Doaba region of the state. Before quitting Congress, he was the Deputy General Secretary of Punjab Pradesh Congress.

Committing to work with full zeal and strength to ensure the record victory of SAD-BJP in the Assembly elections, Satpal said he and thousands of his supporters would guarantee record margin victory of SAD-BJP candidates.