Badal-Modi meet a bid to woo NRI Sikhs’ investments?

AMRITSAR: The meeting between chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the PM's visit to US is seen as an attempt by the SAD(B) to rebuild image abroad to woo Sikhs and invite investments to the state and gain political dividends here.
Badal, along with his deputy chief minister son Sukhbir met Modi in Delhi on September 22.
SAD(B) Delhi unit president Manjit Singh GK said Badal had urged Modi to take up the issue of racist attacks on Sikhs in US, visas for Sikhs who had taken political asylum, scrapping of black list of Sikhs so that they can return home and nationality to Afghan Sikhs and Hindus living in India.
GK said various rounds of meetings were held between Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Sukhbir with BJP's top leadership before arranging the final meeting of Badal with Modi before his US visit. He said Modi's initiative would help Sikhs establish their unique identity and attract NRI Sikhs to invest in Punjab.
On the other hand, political analyst and professor at Guru Nanak Dev University Kuldeep Singh said Badal is desperate to get a relief package for the state not just to improve the fiscal health of the state but also to prove his allegations of discrimination against Sikhs and Punjab by the previous UPA government.
He said the timing of the meeting could be coincidental. "The major issue is Badal's face saving exercise as the SAD government had been claiming that if the NDA comes to power, the coffers will be opened for Punjab," he said.