Manpreet did not want Sukhbir as CM: Maluka

Manpreet did not want Sukhbir as CM: Maluka
Rajay Deep/TNS

Bathinda, November 15

Reacting to the perceived utopian wish of Manpreet Singh Badal that “no blood relatives should serve in the same Cabinet”, which was apparently an attack on the ruling father-son duo in the state, a member of the political affairs committee (PAC) of the SAD (B), Sikander Singh Maluka, today said, “It would be better had Manpreet raised the same issue when he was enjoying the portfolio of the finance minister just because of his blood relation with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.”
“Today, I have no hesitation in admitting that when Manpreet was inducted as FM in the state cabinet without any credentials, the party committed a mistake which is being reflected now,” said Maluka.
About the extent of damage that Manpreet’s ‘Jago Punjab Yatra’ will do to the SAD (B) in the coming assembly polls, Maluka said, “It is a part of history that when big guns like Gurcharan Singh Tohra and others opened a front against the SAD (B) , they failed to sustain it politically.”
Replying to another query, the PAC member went ahead saying, “Though he is denying it in front of media but we (the party members) know well that it was Manpreet’s ego because of which he did not want to see Sukhbir Badal as the chief minister and when the time was coming for the big occasion, he created a scene.”
“We have reports that Manpreet is dancing to the tunes of the AICC leaders. But now as a majority of the state Congress leaders too have announced that they do not want him to enter the party, he is left with no other option but to vacillate,” alleged Maluka.
He said further, “Be it a bypoll or general election, I can say it with certainty that even if he contests from Gidderbaha, which Manpreet claims to be his own constituency, he will not even be able to save his surety from being forfeited.”
When asked about the allegations of Congressmen that the maximum atrocities upon their party men were committed in Gidderebaha, that too on the directions of Manpreet and his brother-in-law Jaijeet Singh Jojo, Maluka agreed saying he had the same reports.
“As he was the kin of Badal sahib, many a times, we did not find it reasonable to interfere in his area but now people, including our party workers, are regularly complaining to us,” he claimed.
Manpreet Badal, when contacted, refused to react saying that someone (Maluka) who could not save his own seat in the previous assembly polls could not be expected to assess the reality. However, his aide and former OSD Charanjit Singh said, "Let the time come, we will see whose surety gets forfeited."