Warring win my responsibility: Manpreet

Perneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 10

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal has pulled out all stops and is campaigning hard for the triumph of Congress candidate Amarinder Singh Raja Warring from the high-stakes Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Manpreet said, “We are very positive as there is a strong sentiment against two-time MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal among the people. We hope to maintain the lead of around 30,000 votes which we got from Bathinda (Urban) Assembly segment in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.”

On whether his refusal to contest from Bathinda has put pressure on him to deliver the seat to the party, he said, “First of all, I would like to clarify that I was never offered the ticket. I had already made it clear that I would like to stay on in Punjab as I had started sorting out the state’s finances and would not like to leave it midway.  “However, I feel that being the only minister from the constituency, the responsibility of winning the seat lies with me,” he said.

Manpreet said the fact that the SAD was out of power would also boost their prospects. He alleged that the Akali Dal “misused government machinery to its advantage” in 2014. 

However, on the question of anti-incumbency against their state government, he said the Congress has won the panchayat elections a few months ago and the enthusiasm among the party cadre is still intact.  To another query, he said there isn’t any resentment among government employees as most of their issues have been resolved. 

On how high the stakes are, he said if they manage to win this prestigious seat, it will be a body blow to SAD from which they cannot recover anytime soon. “We will be looking at another term in office if we win this seat,” he added.

Incidentally, the minister has been holding small meetings of different stakeholders, communities and people having common set of problems. Manpreet finds this more effective than public meetings. 

He has been garnering support for Warring in his Bathinda (Urban) segment for the past fortnight and intends to continue with it in the coming week as well.

Meanwhile, his family too has pitched in with his wife Veenu Badal, son Arjun Badal and brother-in-law Jaijeet Singh Johal alias Jojo holding public meetings in the city over the past fortnight. 

Jojo is actively involved in the party’s campaign. He has also played a key role in strengthening the party by breaking away a sizeable number of municipal councillors of the SAD-BJP and inducting them into the Congress fold in the recent past.