CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has accused leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal of “demeaning” his government's flagship over £1 billion farm loan waiver scheme and indulging in “political gimmickry”. He said SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal was “playing with the sentiments of the people with fraudulent and baseless charges” against the current dispensation.
Singh questioned his predecessor over “failure” to take any initiatives for the farmers and other sections of the society during his 10-year tenure and when the Congress is now making amends, criticising its steps. The SAD has been lashing out at the Punjab state government, alleging that the party had reneged on the promises made before the Assembly polls held earlier this year. Singh asserted that his government had announced the loan waiver scheme in the state assembly in June this year. Amarinder said Badal failed to even turn up for the session. “In fact, the Akalis did not have the patience to listen to the government on the issue,” he said in a statement.
Singh said it was evident that the SAD did not have a positive programme and were merely indulging in a “political gimmickry” for their political interests. “The Akalis were concerned only about promoting their own political and personal interests, as they had been doing all these years, at the cost of the development and progress of Punjab and its people,” he said. Regarding the SAD core committee’s rejection of the government's notification on farmers' debt, Singh challenged Badal and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal to prove even a single of their allegations on loan waiver issue.
Singh alleged that having “failed” to take any step for the welfare of the farmers during their decade-long rule, the Badals now have the “audacity to demean” the initiatives being taken by the Congress government despite the “financial crisis inherited” by his government.
