CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal on Monday officially lodged a protest with Punjab BJP president Kamal Sharma over the comments made by former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu in Ludhiana on Sunday against the coalition government in the state.

SAD secretary and Punjab education minister Daljit Singh Cheema rang up Kamal Sharma in the evening to apprise him about the derogatory remarks made by Navjot Singh Sidhu at a religious function at Ludhiana. Cheema said that this action of Sidhu was intolerable and against the spirit of coalition dharma. He expressed surprise that even when the BJP high command in Delhi as well as in the state had openly clarified that there was no issue between SAD and BJP, Sidhu was still speaking against the SAD leadership.

Sidhu’s remarks were itself in violation of the advice of the senior BJP national leadership which has recently publicly endorsed the continuation of the alliance in Punjab. Cheema urged Sharma to take up the matter with the party high command so as to tame Sidhu; he also demanded on behalf of SAD that strict disciplinary action should be taken against Sidhu.

In a statement issued from the party head office, Cheema said that such remarks are creating bitterness in the SAD-BJP alliance and he hoped that the BJP leadership will take the matter seriously.