Key Points

Those who joined the protest included Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Charanjit Singh Channi, Amar Singh, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Dharamvir Gandhi, Manish Tewari, Kumari Selja, Sher Singh Ghubaya and Gurjeet Singh Aujla.

Later briefing the media, Punjab unit president and Ludhiana MP Warring pointed out that threats were continuously being issued against the Golden Temple.

Warring claimed that while the state government had claimed to have arrested one of the accused, he (the arrested person) was said to be not involved in issuing the threats.

Warring said the Union government and the Union Home Ministry must take serious note of these threats and identify the culprits and bring them to book. They must understand the seriousness and sensitivity of the matter, he added.

To another question about the suggestion of the Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar about an alliance between the BJP and the Akali Dal, Warring pointed out that the state working president of the BJP, Ashwani Sharma, had already opposed the suggestion for an alliance.

He asserted that the alliance between the BJP and the Akali Dal will not make any difference to the Congress.

"The Congress has defeated them several times in the past when they were in alliance, so we are not bothered," he said, while remarking, "they are welcome to join hands even with the Aam Aadmi Party".

Notably, Jakhar had told a newspaper that the BJP-SAD alliance had historically been driven by the larger interest of Punjab.

"In 1996, the BJP, a national party, accepted being secondary to the Akali Dal in the larger interest of Punjab, which was emerging from the dark days of terrorism," he has said.

The Shiromani Akali Dal, now led by Sukhbir Badal, and the BJP parted ways in 2020, when the former walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the three farm laws, which were later scrapped.

- IANS