The move came days after the Supreme Court vacated the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the trial in three sacrilege cases.
The SAD-BJP alliance on Tuesday created history in Punjab by storming back to power for a second consecutive term, breaking a 46-year-old jinx.
The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party combine is heading for a clean sweep in the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti polls with winning 14 Zila Parishad and 130 Block Samiti seats and leading in most of the seats as per the results and trends available till noon on Tuesday.
The SAD MP from Bathinda said the alliance will be voted back because it had worked hard for the future of the state on an agenda of "development, development and yet more development".
However, it was BJP, which put up an unexpectedly impressive performance bagging 19 of the 23 seats it contested.
If everything goes according to plan, a resuscitated SAD could emerge as a central player in Punjab in three years, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Bareta, who was one of the accused in the incidents related to the desecration of a religious text in Faridkot in 2015, was declared a proclaimed offender.
'It is not just about numbers. Sometimes coalitions and alliances have symbolic value.'
It was not that differences did not crop up over other issues between the two erstwhile allies, but Parkash Singh Badal always ensured that these were amicably resolved and the ties remained intact.
Despite attaining absolute majority in Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party lost its vote share in comparison to Congress which failed to live up to its expectations in the poll results of the 117 member assembly.
With six days to go for state assembly polls in Punjab, political parties have intensified their campaign in the state. The outgoing ruling alliance of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and Bhartiya Janata Party is banking on Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and L K Advani to regain the power in the state.
Panthic politics came easily to Parkash Singh Badal. But he was quick to abandon it when it became a problem, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The Shiromoni Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance on Tuesday created history in Punjab by storming back to power for a second consecutive term, breaking a 46-year-old jinx.
A day after his party got a miserable drubbing in the Assembly polls, Peoples Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal on Wednesday accused Shiromani Akali Dal of using money power to garner votes.
His remarks came a day after AAP Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann took a dig at the cricketer-turned-politician and asked him to tweet about the 'funds' allegedly accepted by the ruling Congress from private power companies in the state.
Rajnath Singh, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has predicted two third majority for the Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in the Assembly polls in Punjab for which the voting will conclude at 5 pm on Tuesday.
Punjab's 117 assembly seats are going to be a keenly-watched contest with the Congress, the AAP, the SAD-BSP alliance, and the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) battling to form the government in the state, with a probable entry of farmers' front in the form of Sanyukt Samaj Morcha.
This election will decide in what shape and form the Akali Dal will survive.
The incumbent Congress could win only 18 seats, with Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi losing both seats he contested -- Chamkaur Sahib as well as Bhadaur.
The Congress is banking on decisions like reducing electricity tariff and fuel prices, taken during current CM Charanjit Singh Channi's 111-day tenure.
Apart from Chamkaur Sahib assembly seat which comes in Maajha region of Punjab, Congress is all set to field CM Channi from Adampur assembly constituency which falls in the Doaba Region.
Sidhu has been pushing for the replacement of Deol, who had represented former Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in cases related to the 2015 desecration incidents and police firing on protesters.
Sidhu attacked the Aam Aadmi Party, alleging that the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi had last year notified one of the farm laws even when farmers were sitting at the borders of national capital protesting against the legislations.
The remarks came after the Channi government on Tuesday accepted the resignation of advocate general APS Deol, yielding to the pressure mounted by Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu for replacing the state's AG.
The CM's statement came on a day state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu once again sought the replacement of Punjab's police chief and advocate general.
Nandita Saikia, a BA student at Moridhal College in Dhemaji district, was attacked by Rintu Sharma while she was returning home from her college on Saturday, police said.
"Akali Dal is a part of the NDA but it is a separate political outfit. They have taken this decision because of some political reasons. We have an alliance (SAD-BJP) but both are different political outfits. They (SAD) have taken a political decision," said Sharma.
Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal said his party would abide by any decision taken by the National Democratic Alliance regarding the upcoming Presidential election.
The letter to Sonia Gandhi reminded her of the party's 18-point agenda "given to the last chief minister" of Punjab and said that those were "equally relevant today".
Former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who was part of the SIT probing the 2015 Kotkapura police firing incident in Punjab, on Monday joined the AAP in Amritsar.
"Notwithstanding my personal anguish, I hope this will not cause any damage to the hard-earned peace and development in the state," Singh wrote in his letter to Gandhi
Akali veteran Parkash Singh Badal will be sworn in as Punjab Chief Minister on March 14 for a record fifth time with the SAD-BJP combine on Friday jointly electing the 85-year-old leader to head the state for a second consecutive term.
'The distrust of traditional political parties in Punjab is an advantage for AAP.'
Sidhu said there would be no need for Amarinder to go for power cuts or to regulate the office timings if the state acts "in the right direction".
The high-voltage campaign for the February 4 assembly elections in Punjab came to an end on Thursday evening following hectic campaigning by various political parties.
The ruling Congress on Wednesday swept the urban body polls in Punjab, winning six municipal corporations, emerging as the largest party in the seventh and bagging most of the 109 municipal council and nagar panchayats.
Strains in relations between the SAD and the BJP had begun surfacing for over a year.
Navjot Sidhu has been given power and new and renewable energy sources, and his tourism and cultural affairs portfolio has been given to Charanjit Singh Channi.
Punjab Congress today termed Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's allegations that it was scuttling central grants to derail the development campaign of SAD-BJP government, as "ridiculous" and "baseless".
Several newly elected MLAs including Navjot Singh Sidhu, Manpreet Singh Badal, Brahm Mohindra, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Rana Gurjit Singh, Pargat Singh, Razia Sultana, O P Soni are in the race for becoming ministers, party sources said.
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