Chandigarh, Aug 05: The main opposition party in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), today got a shot in the arm, with four independent legislators extending their support to the party.
Announcing their "unconditional support" before media in the presence of SAD chief and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal here, the MLAs claimed that "they have returned to their family."
They said "any decision taken by Badal would be acceptable to us."
Out of the total nine independent MLAs in Punjab Assembly, the four backing Sad are Gurpreet Singh Kangar (Rampura Phull), Sukhdarshan Singh Mrar (Muktsar), Harmeet Singh (Tarn Taran) and Gobind Singh Kanjhla (Sherpur), a staunch supporter of SGPC chief G S Tohra.
Thanking the MLAs for their gesture, Badal said the support of the legislators would strenghten Sad.



In a House of 117, Sad's strength goes up to 45, whereas its ally BJP has a strength of three. The ruling Congress is comfortably placed with 61 MLAs.



Badal parried queries on whether he regretted his decision of not allotting these MLAs party tickets during the assembly polls early last year.


Bureau Report