NDA was just a name, Modi has not called a single meeting of NDA in 10 years: Sukhbir Singh Badal

- After leaving NDA, he got angry and broke Badal

New Delhi, 28 September 2020 Monday

Sukhbir Singh Badal, leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD in English), criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the NDA was just a name. Narendra Modi has not even convened a single NDA meeting in the last ten years.

The Akali Dal had split with the NDA over the agriculture bill and Simrat Kaur, the only minister in his central government, resigned. Badal expressed anger that the NDA had lost its credibility. It was just a name coalition. For the last eight to ten years the NDA has been just a name. There was nothing left, the leaders never talked to any constituent party, no plan was made and no meeting was called. I do not remember a single day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a meeting of the NDA to discuss an issue. Modi has never let anyone know what is going on in his mind.

He said that even when drafting the agriculture bill, the NDA's single component party was not taken into confidence.

Sukhbir further said that since Atal Bihari Vajpayee, we have had cordial relations with the NDA. My father was a founding member of the NDA. We have always supported the NDA. The NDA we founded today is no more. The alliance should run the way my father Prakash Singh Badal did. We also supported the BJP in Punjab on every issue. But we were kept in the dark while drafting the agriculture bill.

"We have a majority in Punjab and the BJP has a minority, but we always kept the BJP with us whenever we raised an issue with the governor," he said.