Punjab finance minister suspended from Akali Dal

CHANDIGARH - The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab Tuesday evening announced that the state’s Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal has been suspended from the party.

The suspension of Manpreet Badal came within an hour of the Akali Dal disciplinary committee recommending that he be suspended from the party for his recent statements that were in violation of the party’s policies.

“Keeping in view the recommendations of the disciplinary committee of the party, the Shiromani Akali Dal has decided to suspend S. Manpreet Singh Badal, Member PAC from the party,” Akali Dal secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said here.

The Akali Dal is headed by Manpreet’s first cousin and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The recommendation made by the committee, headed by Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and comprising four other senior Akali Dal leaders, had been forwarded to Sukhbir Badal and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is the chief patron of the party.

The committee directed the finance minister not to make any statements before the media. It also directed him to appear before the committee here Oct 20 to give his explanation on the controversy.

The finance minister had earlier this month made statements that the Akali Dal government should do away with subsidies and freebies like free power to farmers to enable the state to tide over a mounting Rs.65,000 crore debt.

He had claimed that the central government had extended a conditional offer of waiving nearly Rs.35,000 crore.

The statements had brought the finance minister in direct confrontation with his first cousin Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is the son of the chief minister.

Following the controversy, senior Akali leaders openly demanded that the finance minister be dropped from the government or divested of his post.

Sukhbir Badal and the state’s chief secretary had even claimed that no offer had been received by the Punjab government for a debt waiver from the central government.

Manpreet Badal was cornered within the party in the last one week following the controversy.

Manpreet, 48, an honours graduate from Delhi’s St Stephen’s college and a bar-at-law from London, is the nephew of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The finance minister is known for keeping a low profile life, not even taking armed security cover from the Punjab Police.