Overview

• On July 22, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema accused Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP leaders of making overtures to renew their alliance for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections
• He noted that national BJP figures insist the party will contest state polls alone while SAD officials deny any talks on a coalition
• Cheema charged the former alliance government with deliberately fueling Punjab’s drug crisis and nurturing a gangster culture that devastated the youth
• He recalled the 2020 farm law agitation that led to over 375 farmer deaths and prompted SAD’s exit from the National Democratic Alliance
• Cheema highlighted sacrilege incidents in 1986 and 2015-16 as well as the surge in crimes against women under SAD-BJP rule to underscore their governance failures