Badal promises leeway to Cong, but not on issue of ‘illegal’ CPSes

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 27

Admitting that he did not expect such a drubbing for the Shiromani Akali Dal in the Punjab Assembly poll, party chief patron and former CM Parkash Singh Badal today said he and his party had decided to give leeway to the Congress government, which was having “teething troubles”.

Striking a conciliatory note, the former CM said they had decided to play the role of a “constructive Opposition” by not indulging in “nukta cheeni”. They would let the Congress government settle down before they decided to oppose them, he added. 

“However,” said Badal, “we will oppose the government's move to bring in any Bill that paves the way for appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries. That is illegal, and various courts have struck down such appointments,” he said, adding that on one hand, the government had been promising austerity and on the other a spate of political appointments had been made. Maintaining  that he and his party respected the mandate of Punjab’s electorate, the Akali patriarch said though his government and party had faced public ire over the desecration of holy books and jailbreaks, such incidents had been occurring even now. 

Badal said the SC verdict on SYL construction would pose the biggest challenge to the new government. Fulfilling their election promises would be another big challenge, he added. 

“On SYL, we will first look up to the Congress for safeguarding the rights of Punjab on its river waters. If they fail to do so, the Akalis are known for taking on governments in the interest of Punjab and we will do whatever it takes to oppose the SYL,” he said. 

On the Congress complaining of the state’s poor fiscal health, he said the Congress already knew the state of Punjab economy. “But a law needs to be passed, making it mandatory for political parties to fulfil their election promises, if voted to power,” he said. He was waiting to see how and when the Congress kept its promise of farm loan waiver, he said.

Badal also refused to be drawn into any controversy regarding his estranged nephew and Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who recently said he was dead for the Badals and the Badals did not exist for him. 

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, meanwhile, said though the Akalis were being hounded and their party workers harassed by workers of the ruling Congress, who were taking control of truck unions and labour unions, they had made requests to the government to look into such cases and avoid the law being broken.