Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh today advised union minister and Bathinda MP Ms Harsimrat Kaur Badal to better pose her questions on the plight of farmers to her father in law and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal instead of criticising Rahul Gandhi for his visit to Punjab.
Reacting to Ms Badal’s outburst against Mr Gandhi in the parliament today, Capt Amarinder observed, “her frustration is understandable as her party’s government has completely failed the farmers and the anger is spilling on roads and she had no option but to try to defend the indefensible”.
He said, instead of appreciating Mr Gandhi for his visit to Punjab to highlight farmers’ woes she has been unnecessarily critical of him apparently to appease the BJP leadership and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular as he is not giving time to Mr Badal.
“It was a classic case of being more loyal than the king when no BJP MP objected to Mr Gandhi’s criticism of Mr Modi, Ms Badal stood up to prove her unfailing loyalty to the Prime Minister”, he remarked.
The former Chief Minister suggested to Ms Badal to ask her father in law as what happened to Rs 14640 crores cash credit limit Punjab got from the Reserve Bank of India on April 1 for the procurement of wheat.
“It is after about one month that Mr Badal announced to distribute Rs 4000 crores among the farmers, but what about the remaining Rs 10,640 crores?” he asked, while apprehending that Mr Badal, as usual, might have diverted it for some other purpose.
Capt Amarinder hoped that Ms Badal and her Akali government in Punjab was aware of the bad weather forecast for coming days which can spell doom for the wheat lying in open in the grain markets.
“Better sound the alarm bells on your father in law to make him wake up so that the farmers’ wheat is lifted and not left at the mercy of weather gods”, he asked Ms Badal, wondering, “you have all the money lying with you and still you are making the farmers to suffer by not making any payments to them even after the lapse of so much time”.
