Chandigarh [India], March 15 (ANI): Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership of neglecting the welfare of government employees and pensioners by withholding their arrears, while simultaneously splurging on advertisement and travel campaigns for party leaders, targeting AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

In an X post, Badal welcomed the decision by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to fix the deadline to clear dues on April 30.

'The Aam Aadmi Party govt owes govt pensioners & employees more than Rs 14,000 crore in arrears. It is not paying up despite approving the pay out through a cabinet decision in February 2025. On the other hand it has spent Rs 4400 crore on pasting @BhagwantMann's picture across the country. It also has money to ferry @ArvindKejriwal in chartered planes across the length & breadth of India! I welcome the Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High court's decision to step in & fix a deadline of April 30 to clear all dues of pensioners & govt employees,' he wrote in a post.

Alleging that the state funds are being misused, he demanded an 'impartial probe' into AAP, accusing it of using employees' funds on 'party agenda'.

'I simultaneously demand an impartial probe into misuse of State funds by the @AamAadmiParty govt. Earlier, Rs 12,500 crore meant for disaster relief were misused. Now the AAP govt seems to have spent money meant for its employees on its party AGENDAS,' the post concluded.

Earlier, the SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that he would contest from Gidderbaha assembly constituency ahead of the 2027 assembly elections in Punjab.

According to the Shiromani Akali Dal press release, the SAD president made these announcements following intense pressure from party workers during the inauguration of the party office here. He also declared that people who had betrayed the party, including Hardeep Singh Dhillon, would never be taken back into the party fold.

According to the release, the SAD president also met party candidates contesting the Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections in this constituency. He said the Panchayati Raj elections were a litmus test for the party and urged the party rank and file to ensure that party candidates were elected with flying colours. (ANI)