SAD-BJP to hold protest march against inflation on May 9

Chandigarh, Apr 25 (UNI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its alliance partner, BJP, will hold a protest march here on May 9 against the rising inflation.

This decision was unanimously taken in a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of SAD here this evening, chaired by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The Patron of SAD and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also attended the meeting. The PAC unanimously authorised the SAD chief to nominate party candidates for the Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections due to be held on May 12 and for the Amritsar South assembly constituency bypoll scheduled for May 22.

According to the party spokesman, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema the PAC passed five resolutions in the meeting.

In the first resolution the party thanked the Punjab Government for taking steps to promote Punjabi language. In another resolution, the PAC described the announcement of farm loan waiver of the Union Government as the ''Biggest Economic Fraud'' with the farmers of the state.

It lamented that months after the announcement of the loan waiver, even guidelines had not been issued by the Government. The meeting observed that this showed ''the seriousness'' of the Union Government towards the pathetic condition of the farmers.

In another resolution passed in the meeting, the PAC demanded a bonus of Rs 400 per quintal for the farmers, over and above the MSP of Rs 1000 per quintal on the wheat crop.

The PAC appealed to all Punjabis to vote for the SAD-BJP alliance in the coming Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections and in the Amritsar South assembly by-election.

Dr Cheema said duties had been assigned to all senior leaders for the coming bypoll and elections to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

UNI HS PK DB2214