CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal will hold a meeting to review the party's performance in the Punjab assembly elections, as announced by outgoing chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. Congratulating the Congress on its victory, Badal said his party would support the new government if it works in the interest of the people and the state. "We will call a meeting of the party in which we will discuss the reasons," he told the press after submitting his resignation as chief minister to Governor VP Singh Badnore.
The Congress bagged 77 of the state's 117 Assembly seats, while the ruling SAD-BJP combine won just 18. Speaking on the Sutlej-Yamuna-Link canal issue, he said that "not a single drop of water" will be shared. Responding to another question on the Congress' resolve to wipe out drug menace from the state in four weeks, Badal said, "Whatever steps they take will come before you." SAD president Sukhbir Badal said, "The kind of development work we undertook, has never happened in the state. But if there was any deficiency or wrong propaganda launched against us, we will analyse these and then take corrective measures." He said that the SAD-BJP alliance lost the elections due to a drop in the vote share. The alliance received a 31 per cent vote share while the Congress and the AAP got 38 per cent and 23 per cent respectively, he added.
