Chandigarh: Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal devoted a major part in his
reply to the discussion on the state budget in the Assembly today to
attacking his uncle and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and
his family.
A day after SAD president and Parkash Singh Badal's
son Sukhbir Singh Badal dubbed him as an "incompetent" finance minister,
Manpreet Singh Badal today hit back.
Manpreet Singh Badal was
once in the Akali Dal and served as the finance minister in the
erstwhile SAD-BJP government (2007-12). After separating from the SAD,
he floated his own outfit for a brief period before joining the
Congress.
"I have presented six budgets (including as finance
minister in the SAD government), but they dub me as incompetent...They
also have problem when I use poetry in my speech," Manpreet Singh Badal
said, while giving his reply to the discussion on the budgetary
estimates for 2018-19.
"As Finance Minister, I went to Delhi on
many occasions to attend meetings, but I never claimed a penny from the
exchequer for my transportation," he said, alleging the erstwhile
SAD-BJP government emptied state coffers and allegedly looted the state.
He was unsparing in his attack on the 90-year-old Parkash Singh Badal, a five-time chief minister.
However, both Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal were not present in the House today.
"They (Akali MLAs) are trying to run away. They don't want to listen to my reply now," he said.
Manpreet Singh Badal also targeted former minister Bikram Singh Majithia, a relative of the Badals.
"(Parkash
Singh) Badal Sahab went to the United States for a heart ailment
checkup earlier and the money was borne by the Punjab government," he
alleged.
"Those who looted Punjab are now pointing fingers at
me. I don't run buses and own big transport companies, I don't own five
star hotels..I don't know how to loot the coffers...," the finance
minister said.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was present in the
House when Manpreet Singh Badal launched the attack on the Parkash
Singh Badal family.
As Manpreet Singh Badal was speaking,
opposition SAD and AAP MLAs rushed to the Well of the House demanding a
discussion on farmers' suicide after a panel report was tabled in the
state assembly today.
Later, as the Akali and ruling Congress MLAs engaged in a verbal duel, the Speaker adjourned the House for 20 minutes.
After the House re-assembled, SAD MLAs did not return after having staged a walkout.
In a press statement issued later, SAD lambasted Manpreet Singh Badal
for allegedly turning his reply on the budget speech into a "cheap and
vulgar rant against his former mentor and political guru Parkash Singh
Badal and the Badal family."
"He used crude and derogatory language against those who
nurtured him and made him what he is today," SAD legislators said in the
statement.
PTI
