DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab Cabinet minister and Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Sunday dubbed the SAD-BSP alliance as "opportunistic" and more of a "marriage of convenience based on vote bank politics sans any ideological foundations." In a statement issued by the Punjab State Congress Committee here, Randhawa questioned how bigwigs of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), who had earlier described their coalition with the BJP as "inseparable", would now like to christen the new association which is merely an exercise to regain the "lost political moorings". He said the SAD has become a "non-entity" in the political landscape of Punjab which has nothing left to offer to anyone. The SAD and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have stitched an alliance for the 2022 Punjab Assembly election in the state, with both the parties coming together after a gap of 25 years. The BSP led by former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati would fight 20 of the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab, while the remaining will be contested by the SAD. Taking on the Akali Dal, Randhawa said the 2015 sacrilege incident caused an irreparable damage to the '+ char(39) +'panthic'+ char(39) +' image of the SAD thus "shaking its foundations to the core". Attacking SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, Randhawa said the "kaka culture" of the SAD has led to Taksali leaders drifting away from the party which has become a "rag-tag bunch of self -seekers and materialistic people". Branding the SAD as the party which has "forsaken the lofty ideals" of '+ char(39) +'Guru Sahiban'+ char(39) +' (Sikh Gurus), the Congress leader said first they "earned the blot of sacrilege" and have now "backstabbed" the farmers. He said that the BSP cannot save the "sinking ship" of the SAD because the former party is itself battling for survival in Uttar Pradesh. (editor@dailyworld.in)