Chandigarh, The Punjab Congress President Mr Partap Singh Bajwa today counselled the Chief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal to withdraw his daughter-in-law Mrs Harsimrat Kaur Badal who is the Food Processing Minister at the centre from the Narendra Modi cabinet to lodge his protest against ill-treatment being meted out to his government.
He said the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi had so far refused to accept even a single demand of the Badal government, including Rs. 2330 crore as the drought relief. That was the minimum that Mr Badal should have got cleared from his own government.
He reminded Mr Badal that all these years, he had been alleging step motherly treatment and discrimination by the UPA government despite that fact that the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh never turned down any demand from Punjab. Rather, the UPA government had been too liberal with Punjab. Mr Badal’s visit to Delhi used to be too frequent but now the situation was diametrically opposite despite his own government being in power in Delhi. He said his only achievement so far has been the induction of Mrs Harsimrat Kaur as the Union minister.
“The people of Punjab now demand explanation from Mr Badal as to why has he been misleading them all these years and promising everything under the sun when even one demand concerning the people, not his family, has been conceded by Mr Modi. The people must realise that Mr Badal has never gone beyond his family interests”, he asserted.
Mr Bajwa said not even once the Chief Minister had taken the local BJP leadership along to Mr Modi to put pressure. During his few trips to Delhi, giving him company was his son and the Deputy Chief Minister Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal. He said the Punjabgovernment was not a family concern of Mr Badal and the BJP had now seen through his cunningness.
He said the rejection of the Punjab demand by Mr Modi so far was a strong indication of the widening differences between the Akali Dal and the BJP. MR Badal used to describe this alliance as unbreakable and the best guarantor of peace but now the alliance partner was in no mood to share Badal government’s anti-incumbency.
He said the role of the Punjab BJP had been equally questionable as these leaders succumbed before the senior alliance partner. It was the Deputy Chief Minister who was running the miniseries held by the BJP ministers. He said the BJP should have the courage to share the blame for mismanagement and non-governance along with increasing corruption and mafia operations, he added.
He said the Modi government had also cold-shouldered the demands like transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab. The Punjabi farmers in Gujarat continued to be haunted by the threat of getting uprooted and Badal has not been abke to get the SLP withdrawaln.
Moreover, there had been no proper response on the issue of restructuring of the FCI. If FCI is restructured, the regime of MSP will end hurting Punjab farmers adversely he said.
Badal has failed to get special package for Punjab on lines with hilly states while 18770 factories have shut in Punjab in last 7 years.
Badal Government can be termed as a “comprehensive failure” he said.