BATHINDA: Putting his age behind, 94-year-old Parkash Singh Badal, a five-time chief minister, jumped into election campaigning by kickstarting the drive from the Lambi assembly segment on Monday.
Though he did not make it clear whether he will contest the election or someone else from the family will enter the fray from Lambi, Badal accompanied by daughter-inlaw Harsimrat Kaur Badal sounded the poll bugle.
Presently, Badal is the oldest politician to indulge in the campaigning and if he opts to contest, he will be the oldest politician fighting elections anywhere in the country. Badal has contested from Lambi successfully for the past five terms.
On December 14, Badal had participated in a rally of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) near Moga coinciding with the 101st foundation day of the party. While the party has chalked out a 4-day campaign programme in Lambi till December 23, Badal senior may not campaign on all the four days. On the first day, Badal visited eight places and demanded votes for SAD.
During his election meetings in various villages, Badal immediately made a connect with the voters and even called some people by name, taking forward his social engineering further. The sources said going by the situation in Punjab, the SAD has found it fit to make its senior most politician put his experience in making people return towards the party.
For it, Badal preferred to mingle among people in small gatherings without caring about the chilly winds. Badal called upon people how the opposition parties have indulged in blame game against Akali Dal in 2017 elections by raising the sacrilege issue, and all-round development made by SAD during its 10-year rule was forgotten.
Elated with Badal campaigning, Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal said his urge to serve people is so strong that he is among them even at this age.
