category Regional, chandigarh, , tags Regional, chandigarh, , DW BUREAU Chandigarh The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today condemned the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for equating a subservient and spineless leader who had betrayed Punjab and Punjabis Bhagwant Mann with the true lion of Punjab and leader of the Khalsa Raj Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In a statement here, senior SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema while condemning education minister Harjot Bains with fomenting mischief and deliberately tarnishing the image of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at the instance of his Delhi masters, said Bains is free to extol AAP rule as he so desires but comparing the secular and epoch making rule of the great Maharaja with the corrupt, lawless and immoral rule of Bhagwant Mann is an affront to Punjabis . Dr Cheema said the comparison was a new low in Punjabi politics. It seems there is no level to which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) can t stoop to divert attention from its abysmal failures. The comparison with Maharaja Ranjit Singh is another ploy to divert discussion away from the real issues of Punjab including corruption, breakdown in law and order, discontinuation of social welfare benefits to the disadvantaged sections of society and failure to rein in immoral activities of AAP ministers and legislators . Showing the mirror to AAP, Dr Cheema said while Maharaja Ranjit Singh was known for turning the tide of invasion back into the homelands of the traditional conquerors of India, Bhagwant Mann had signed away the governance of Punjab by signing a memorandum of understanding (mou) with the Delhi government to allow it to administer Punjab at its whims and fancies. This is not all, instead of reclaiming territory which once belonged to Punjab; Bhagwant Mann is bent upon signing away Punjab s rights to Chandigarh by refusing to take a stand against Haryana s bid to establish a separate Vidhan Sabha in the union territory . Dr Cheema said the chief minister had even faulted on the religious front by becoming a party to breaking the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) by submitting an affidavit in the court to this effect. This paved the way for the formation of a separate gurdwara committee for Haryana , he added. (editor dailyworld.in)