The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) on Tuesday threatened to disrupt Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani's Bharat Uday Yatra when it enters Punjab on March 25 even as the BJP sought an assurance from Governor O P Verma for safe and peaceful passage to the yatra in the border state.
Party chief Simranjit Singh Mann told reporters in Chandigarh that the yatra is being undertaken in a 'conspiracy' to gather Hindu votes by 'instigating them' and that his party activists would disrupt it at Khamano in Fatehgarh Sahib district.
Following this, a five-member delegation of top BJP leaders from Punjab comprising former state party chief B L Rinwa, former ministers Madan Mohan Mittal and Balramji Dass Tandon, and party general secretaries Avinash Rai Khanna and H S Grewal met the governor.
Later talking to reporters, Grewal and Tandon said they had received a telephone message from the Punjab Additional Director General of Police requesting a change in the route of the yatra in view of Mann's threat.
Click here for the yatra route map
"However, we have decided that the route of the yatra would remain unchanged," they said. "Such elements (Mann) are giving such calls at the behest of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh," they alleged adding, "If something goes wrong, it is the responsibility of the Punjab government."
Meanwhile, Punjab police sources said that elaborate security arrangements have been made for the safe passage of Advani's yatra.