Relentlessly targeted by his own party and government, Punjab’s finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal quit his job as well as his membership of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal — a party headed by his first cousin Sukhbir Badal and paternal uncle Parkash Singh Badal.
Mr Manpreet Badal’s long-expected exit significantly marks the split of the Akali Dal as also brings to surface bitter familial divisions within one of Punjab’s oldest and most influential political clans. The final parting witnessed a bizarre race to the Governor’s House with the embittered finance minister asserting he had “resigned” while his party claimed he had been “sacked”.
Later, a visibly anguished Manpreet Badal demanded cousin, SAD president and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal’s resignation for “trying to wilfully mislead the people of Punjab.” He produced official documents to prove the deputy CM had been “lying” and “suppressing information” regarding ongoing discussions with the union finance ministry on the waiving of half of Punjab’s `71,510-crore debt burden.
“I have tried very hard to get a grip on Punjab’s finances but they have made it impossible for me to continue. Attempts were made to shackle my feet, muzzle me. I was repeatedly rebuffed and my suggestions were routinely ignored,” he said.
“This is not the Akali Dal I was born in and grew up with. This is Sukhbir’s Dal,” Mr Manpreet Badal said also for the first time publicly asserting that his uncle and chief minister Parkash Singh Badal was “no longer in control of the oldest Sikh political party.
He said he was “baffled and speechless” at the fact that those currently in charge of the Akali Dal were willing to fritter away the unprecedented opportunity to halve Punjab’s debt. “This would have been a game changer for Punjab. This would have meant half the problem solved. The very edifice of the party has been so weakened that it can no longer even discuss issues,” he said.
Evidently emotional he said, “I am upset and quitting with a heavy heart because I have been wronged. I did nothing to deserve any of this.” But equally angry Manpreet Badal said, “my telephones have been tapped and my home bugged for the last three-and-a-half years. And now I am even prepared for being raided by the state vigilance bureau!”
Supported avidly by four other Akali legislators and his own father (chief minister Badal’s younger brother) Gurdas Badal, the exit of Mr Manpreet Badal also signals a definite split within the SAD, which he plans to expand and enlarge in the days ahead. Asserting that he “was born into the Akali Dal with an Akali soul,” Mr Manpreet Badal significantly stated he is now prepared to do anything for the people of Punjab, even to consider an “alternate political faith”.