Land bought at 'low' rate, Punjab Vigilance grills Manpreet Badal

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Bathinda, July 24

BJP leader and former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal today appeared before the Punjab Vigilance Bureau at Bathinda in a complaint pertaining to alleged purchase of PUDA land at a low price. He was questioned for over four hours.

Wasn’t MLA at that time

Since I wasn’t an MLA or a minister and it was my political opponent Sarup Chand Singla whose party was in power, the question of misuse of authority by me doesn’t arise. — Manpreet Badal

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A probe is on into allegations against Manpreet for purchasing two residential plots on PUDA land in Bathinda at a low price. A complaint was filed by former SAD MLA (now BJP’s Bathinda-Urban president) Sarup Chand Singla in this regard.

Manpreet denied any wrongdoing and said it was a case of “political vendetta and clash of egos of two individuals”. He said due process of e-auction was followed and he purchased the plots at a cost higher than the reserve price.

Manpreet said, “Two complaints were filed by Singla. These were used to malign my reputation.” Manpreet claimed that he had informed the Vigilance Bureau that change of land use from commercial to residential was approved in 2012. This was because for close to 10 years, there were no buyers for these commercial plots.