Chandigarh November 16:
The Shiromani Akali Dal, which initially took former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal lightly, has begun to realise that the nephew of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal could spoil the prospects of the ruling regime in the coming Assembly polls.
Top SAD leaders will meet soon to deliberate upon the possible electoral repercussions of Manpreet’s exit in view of the overwhelming response to his visits in the State, in general, and in Amritsar on Sunday, in particular. “Yes, he has become a kind of political headache. The way the things are unfolding now has forced us to have a fresh look at the whole episode.
We need to put in place a corrective mechanism to check the damage to be done by Manpreet,” admitted a senior SAD functionary, privy to the developments that led to Manpreet’s unceremonious exit from the Government and the party last month for raising a virtual banner of revolt against his own Government on the issue of a Central debt waiver offer of `35,000 crore.
SAD strategists were earlier underestimating the threat posed by Manpreet and were more concerned about the return of former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, whose coronation on November 12 in Chandigarh saw an unprecedented turnout. Even the Congress leaders did not expect such a mammoth response, which perhaps was one of the reasons behind Captain Amarinder’s announcement that he would avenge every bit of injustice done to his party workers after coming to power in 2012.
The SAD’s counter-attack on Captain Amarinder and Manpreet Singh is missing the required punch. The party is using heavyweights Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Prof PS Chandumajra to launch the counter attack against the duo, but many feel that the assault is not debilitating them. Manpreet is a long time SAD insider, and is raising the issues, which are meritorious, while Captain Amarinder as an astute politician is galavanising the dormant Congress cadres by resorting to rhetoric, befitting his nature and stature.
Manpreet is talking about Punjab’s poor economy, slow investments, wasteful expenditure, and nepotism in the state politics and major representation to youths in politics, drugs menace, and eradicating corruption. Captain Amarinder has chosen to declare the current SAD-BJP as a failed regime. Against this backdrop come Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal’s developmental claims, which remain to be seen how well these things go with the masses in coming days.
Manpreet says that the public debt of Punjab at a staggering high of Rs 70,000 crore is unsustainable, and must be reduced by cutting government borrowing by brining down expenditure and helping economy to grow so that revenue from taxes grows faster. In his political agenda made public on Sunday, he also reiterated that subsidies must be given to the poor. Free electricity is essential only to small and marginal farmers, and not for rich ones.
The issue of subsidy was a major bone of contention between Manpreet and the SAD leadership. Though Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is learnt to have seconded his concerns in private meetings, publicly he did never support him, while Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal justifies ‘freebies’ being given to farmers and other poor sections of society, something which has wrecked havoc with Punjab’s fiscal condition over the years.
At present, Punjab’s fiscal deficit of net borrowing is four per cent of gross State domestic product, which needs to be brought down to 2.5 per cent in five years. As interest payments begin taper off in future as a result of controlled borrowing, the fiscal deficit should be brought down further to two per cent of GSDP in 10 years. Then Punjab will be able to come out of the debt trap.
So is the issue of corruption in Punjab, and Manpreet links this rot to the State’s police system, which, he said, needs to be significantly re-organised and de-politicised, otherwise corruption will never end at any level in the government. According to him, the police in Punjab are too powerful and intricately linked to political-industrial corruption.
The Shiromani Akali Dal, which initially took former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal lightly, has begun to realise that the nephew of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal could spoil the prospects of the ruling regime in the coming Assembly polls.
Top SAD leaders will meet soon to deliberate upon the possible electoral repercussions of Manpreet’s exit in view of the overwhelming response to his visits in the State, in general, and in Amritsar on Sunday, in particular. “Yes, he has become a kind of political headache. The way the things are unfolding now has forced us to have a fresh look at the whole episode.
We need to put in place a corrective mechanism to check the damage to be done by Manpreet,” admitted a senior SAD functionary, privy to the developments that led to Manpreet’s unceremonious exit from the Government and the party last month for raising a virtual banner of revolt against his own Government on the issue of a Central debt waiver offer of `35,000 crore.
SAD strategists were earlier underestimating the threat posed by Manpreet and were more concerned about the return of former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, whose coronation on November 12 in Chandigarh saw an unprecedented turnout. Even the Congress leaders did not expect such a mammoth response, which perhaps was one of the reasons behind Captain Amarinder’s announcement that he would avenge every bit of injustice done to his party workers after coming to power in 2012.
The SAD’s counter-attack on Captain Amarinder and Manpreet Singh is missing the required punch. The party is using heavyweights Sewa Singh Sekhwan and Prof PS Chandumajra to launch the counter attack against the duo, but many feel that the assault is not debilitating them. Manpreet is a long time SAD insider, and is raising the issues, which are meritorious, while Captain Amarinder as an astute politician is galavanising the dormant Congress cadres by resorting to rhetoric, befitting his nature and stature.
Manpreet is talking about Punjab’s poor economy, slow investments, wasteful expenditure, and nepotism in the state politics and major representation to youths in politics, drugs menace, and eradicating corruption. Captain Amarinder has chosen to declare the current SAD-BJP as a failed regime. Against this backdrop come Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal’s developmental claims, which remain to be seen how well these things go with the masses in coming days.
Manpreet says that the public debt of Punjab at a staggering high of Rs 70,000 crore is unsustainable, and must be reduced by cutting government borrowing by brining down expenditure and helping economy to grow so that revenue from taxes grows faster. In his political agenda made public on Sunday, he also reiterated that subsidies must be given to the poor. Free electricity is essential only to small and marginal farmers, and not for rich ones.
The issue of subsidy was a major bone of contention between Manpreet and the SAD leadership. Though Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is learnt to have seconded his concerns in private meetings, publicly he did never support him, while Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal justifies ‘freebies’ being given to farmers and other poor sections of society, something which has wrecked havoc with Punjab’s fiscal condition over the years.
At present, Punjab’s fiscal deficit of net borrowing is four per cent of gross State domestic product, which needs to be brought down to 2.5 per cent in five years. As interest payments begin taper off in future as a result of controlled borrowing, the fiscal deficit should be brought down further to two per cent of GSDP in 10 years. Then Punjab will be able to come out of the debt trap.
So is the issue of corruption in Punjab, and Manpreet links this rot to the State’s police system, which, he said, needs to be significantly re-organised and de-politicised, otherwise corruption will never end at any level in the government. According to him, the police in Punjab are too powerful and intricately linked to political-industrial corruption.
