Punjab chief minister asks govt to concede to Ramdev's demands

Warning the Centre of "consequences" in the event of anything happening to Ramdev, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the government to "immediately" concede to the yoga guru's demands on corruption and black money.

Badal said the entire onus of law and order situation would be on the Union government in such circumstances.

"The Central Government should have realised the significance of these social causes led by Baba Ramdev which had the mandate of every Indian who wanted to weed out the corruption from the political system and bring back the black money from the foreign banks to the country," he said.

"The Centre should be ready to face the consequences in the future, if anything untoward happened to the life of Baba Ramdev and consequently the law and order situation," the chief minister was quoted as saying in an official release.

Badal reiterated that the Shiromani Akali Dal was already a votary to end the corruption and bring back black money to India so that it could be utilised on the development and welfare schemes especially for the amelioration of poverty.

"To retrieve black money is not at all a big issue, but only strong political will is needed for which the Centre must come forth."

On next year's Assembly elections in Punjab, Badal said the ruling SAD-BJP alliance would contest them solely on the plank of development, communal harmony and peace.

"Development, communal harmony and peace will be our poll plank," Badal said on the sidelines of his 'Sangat Darshan' programme here.