Barnala: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday mocked the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) over its dwindling political strength, calling it a “nanad-bharjai (sisters-in-law) party” as its only elected representatives are MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia, who are sisters-in-law.Addressing a Lok Milni programme at Jhaloor village in Barnala district, Mann quipped: “Aeh taan nanad-bharjai party hai, do hi ne. ‘Nanhi Chhaan’ MP hai ate usdi bharjai Majithiae di gharwali MLA hai… bas muk gya kam.” (This has become a ‘nanad-bharjai’ party. There are only two of them. The ‘Nanhi Chhaan’ leader is an MP and her sister-in-law, Majithia’s wife, is an MLA. That’s all there is to the party.)By “Nanhi Chhaan’, Mann was referring to Bathinda MP Harsimrat, who is associated with the Nanhi Chhaan Foundation and is the wife of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. Ganieve, the party’s lone MLA from Majitha, is married to Harsimrat’s brother, Bikram Singh Majithia.The SAD currently has only two elected representatives — Harsimrat in the Lok Sabha and Ganieve in the Punjab legislative assembly. The party had won three assembly seats in 2022, but two of its MLAs later defected.Referring to the controversy over a purported video allegedly showing him committing sacrilege, Mann reiterated that his political opponents were conspiring to defame him. He alleged that the SAD and the Congress were exploiting religious sentiments for political gains and claimed the person seen in the video was wearing a mask resembling him.Mann also highlighted his government’s welfare initiatives, including free electricity, improvements in education and healthcare, the Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojna, and financial assistance for women. He said his government had little time left in its tenure but “a lot of work” still to accomplish.
