Akali Dal expels Manpreet Badal from party

CHANDIGARH - Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal Wednesday expelled former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, a nephew of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, from the primary membership of the party.

The move followed a recommendation by a high-level disciplinary committee of the party, a spokesperson said.

Keeping in view the recommendations of the disciplinary committee of the party, the Shiromani Akali Dal has decided to expel Sardar Manpreet Singh Badal from the primary membership of the party, party secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said here Wednesday.

The committee, headed by rural development and panchayat minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, had Wednesday recommended the expulsion of the former Punjab finance minister owing to his “anti-party activities”.

Manpreet was sacked from the Punjab cabinet last week after his statements on doing away with subsidies and freebies, like free power to farmers, and Punjab’s finances and debt write-offs offered by the centre, brought him in confrontation with the party’s policies and leadership.

Punjabs education minister Upinderjit Kaur was named the states new finance minister in place of Manpreet.

Manpreet Badal, who was also a member of the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC), was suspended from the Akali Dal Oct 12 and asked to appear before the disciplinary committee here Wednesday, which he did not.

“His remaining in the Akali Dal is detrimental to the interests of the party,” Brahmpura said at the meeting.

We discussed this controversy at the meeting, and the statements made by Manpreet Singh Badal. The committee unanimously decided that the anti-party activities of Manpreet Singh Badal required strict action, Brahmpura told reporters after the meeting.

The finance minister was dropped from the ministry last week owing to his statements regarding Punjab’s Rs.700 billion (Rs.70,000 crore) debt, and his demand that the party do away with subsidies and freebies to take the state out of a debt trap.

He had claimed that the central government had extended a conditional offer of waiving off nearly Rs.35,000 crore.

The statements had brought Manpreet in direct confrontation with his first cousin and Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the Akali Dal president.

While Sukhbir is the son of the chief minister, Manpreet, 48, an honours graduate from Delhi’s St Stephen’s college and a bar-at-law from London, is the nephew of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The finance minister is known for keeping a low profile life, not even taking armed security cover from the Punjab Police.

The disciplinary committee also issued notice to two Akali Dal legislators, Manjinder Singh Kang and Jagbir Singh Brar, for supporting Manpreet Badal after his suspension from the party and dismissal from the cabinet.

Both legislators have been asked to give their explanation by Nov 10.