Finished with Akali Dal, Sukhbir should resign: Manpreet Badal

CHANDIGARH - Hours after being sacked as Punjab’s finance minister, Manpreet Badal Wednesday said he had already sent his resignation to state Governor Shivraj Patil, adding that he was “finished with the Akali Dal”.

“I cannot say if my resignation reached first or the move to drop me from the cabinet. You can check the timing of this. They (Punjab government) must have done something since my phones are tapped and my house is bugged,” Manpreet said at a crowded press conference at his official bungalow here.

Manpreet Badal was sacked from the council of ministers in Punjab headed by his uncle and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal following a controversy in recent days over his stand on a Rs.35,000 crore conditional debt waiver being offered by the central government to Punjab to tide over a mounting Rs.70,000 crore debt.

“I was rebuffed many times. My suggestions were not accepted. It was impossible for me to work in this team where the rug was being pulled from under my feet,” he said.

Manpreet said he was not quitting the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal on his own but was expecting the party, which had suspended him Tuesday for indiscipline, to expel him.

“I am finished with the Akali Dal. This is not the Akali Dal that I grew up with. This is Sukhbir’s (cousin Sukhbir Singh Badal’s) Akali Dal,” Manpreet said indicating that he was expecting his expulsion soon.

He was flanked by four sitting Akali Dal legislators — Ajit Singh (Anandpur Sahib), Jagbir Singh Brar (Jalandhar Cantt.), Manjinder Singh (Beas) and Charanjit Singh Channi (Chamkaur Sahib) — during the press conference. Manpreet’s father and chief minister Badal’s younger brother Gurdas Singh Badal, who is a former MP, was also present.

The legislators raised their hands to show support to Manpreet before the media even as he said that he had not yet thought of floating a new party. He added that he had no offer of joining the Congress either.

Manpreet said he would not appear before the Akali Dal disciplinary committee, which has asked him to do so on Oct 20, saying that the party’s disciplinary committee had no power to haul up ministers for their official actions. He said that he had not done any act of indiscipline in the party.

Manpreet instead demanded the resignation of his first cousin and chief minister Badal’s son, Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is Punjab’s powerful deputy chief minister and the Akali Dal president.

“The deputy chief minister misled the people of Punjab (on the debt waiver issue). This is uncalled for. Rather than he demanding my resignation, I demand his resignation. I have set standards of public integrity in Punjab in three-and-a-half years as a minister,” Manpreet said.

Manpreet produced official papers to prove that the controversy over the debt issue was unnecessary, saying that he was only trying to help Punjab get out of the debt trap.

“Punjab is lagging behind all other states in growth. If the finance minister does not raise finance issues, who will? There has been an attempt to discredit me. I have been left with no option but to resign. I am not happy, I am doing it with a heavy heart. I am baffled by the turn of events. I am speechless. An impression has been created that the finance minister is lying,” he said.

He said that there was a move in the Punjab government to scuttle the attempt to get Punjab out of the debt trap.

“I want Punjab to get this waiver. The government of India is flush with funds. The union finance minister (Pranab Mukherjee) is a generous man. Whosoever goes to the centre in my place should negotiate. Even if the deputy CM or Mr. Kalia (industries minister) go, I have no problem as long as it benefits Punjab,” he added.