Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Thursday accused Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of allowing the Centre and the Haryana government to use tear gas shells and shoot rubber bullets at farmers of Punjab to evade arrest in the multi-crore liquor scam. Addressing public meetings in Bathinda (Rural) and Bhucho assembly segments, he said Mann "knows he can go behind bars like his boss (Delhi CM) Arvind Kejriwal because he has perpetrated the same liquor scam in Punjab as was done in Delhi".

"This is why he is ready to hand over the Punjab government to the BJP by forming an AAP (Punjab) unit by taking it out of the control of the AAP central unit led by Arvind Kejriwal. This will be done in the same manner as the Shiv Sena and the NCP were broken in Maharashtra by the BJP," he alleged. Asserting that Mann and AAP would have to answer for colluding with the Haryana government and allowing the latter to attack Punjab farmers on Punjab soil, Badal said: "Can you imagine this happening under any SAD government?"