FM, Union Secy in Twitter war

Bathinda, April 26

Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Sunday had a Twitter spat with the Additional Private Secretary of the Ministry of Finance And Corporate, Astik Sinha, over Central grants to the state.

The incident happened when veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, after his discussion with Manpreet Singh Badal on his live show, posted on Twitter, “Punjab Finance Minister claims the state has just got Rs71 crore from the Centre to fight Covid. Rs71crore!! That’s crazy.”

To this, Astik Sinha commented on his Twitter handle, “Fact check: Punjab received Rs638.25 crore post-devolution revenue-deficit grant, Rs247.50 crore as first instalment of Central share, SDRM fund of Rs823.16 crore and Rs1.2 lakh crore GST compensation.”

Manpreet again posted, “Repeat: Punjab has received only Rs71 crore from the Centre to combat Covid-19.” — TNS