Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday trained his guns on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), accusing it of “introducing drugs” in Punjab and claiming that it wanted to take the state backwards.
He also took a dig at the suggestion of the party’s political comeback in the state, likening it to extinct “dinosaurs”.
Mann’s comments come close on the heels of the Shiromani Akali Dal regaining some ground in the recent zila parishad and block samiti elections.
The party, which has been trying hard to re-emerge as a major political contender in the state after the ouster from power in 2017, also grabbed the second spot in the Tarn Taran Assembly bypoll held in November.
Attacking the SAD, Mann said while his government was making strenuous efforts to make Punjabi youth as doctors and engineers, the Akalis were bent upon “dragging them back to the dinosaur-era”.