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Manpreet Singh Badal switches over to BJP; Congress says 'clouds' over party have cleared
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, January 18
Former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Wednesday joined the BJP citing intense factionalism in the Congress, which hit back saying, “clouds over the state unit have cleared”.
Marking the third high-profile exit from the Congress in recent months after former CM Capt Amarinder Singh and former PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar, Manpreet Badal asked, “How can you work in the Congress which is at a war with itself, and is ridden with factionalism? We are in politics to serve the country, not factions.”
The cousin of SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, who quit the NDA in 2020, accepted BJP’s primary membership in the presence of Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who facilitated the switch. Goyal said Manpreet, as Punjab FM, was a “sobering influence in GST Council meetings and kept national interest before politics”.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, meanwhile, retorted, saying, “A man who left the Akali Dal to make his own party and then joined the Congress, was made Finance Minister for five years, then lost by a record margin of over 60,000 votes and thereafter went into hibernation, has now joined the BJP.”
Speaking to The Tribune, Manpreet said India was progressing fast under PM Narendra Modi and the question was “what role will Punjab play in that growth?”
The former five-time MLA said Punjab politics would go the West Bengal way and the BJP was ready to go it alone. “Just like the Congress and CPM were rendered irrelevant in Bengal, and the BJP emerged as the principal challenger to the ruling TMC, the next contest in Punjab will be between AAP and the BJP,” said Manpreet.
Asked if the SAD could return to the NDA, he noted, “That’s for the central leaders to decide, but I feel the BJP is now in a position to stand on its own feet in Punjab.”
Manpreet said his BJP entry was not sudden. “I have been mulling over this for eight months. Recently, I met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who said something very significant. He said the BJP could not let Punjab, which had suffered 400 invasions to defend India, stay where it was and had a roadmap for it. The meeting was a clincher,” said the 60-year-old leader, who later met BJP chief JP Nadda.
About the Congress, Manpreet said the party was being run by a coterie and he had not been able to meet Rahul Gandhi for a very long. “Meeting Congress’ central leadership has become very difficult. Contrastingly, you can secure an appointment with Amit Shah tomorrow. A party which served factions can’t serve the country,” said Manpreet, who had merged his People’s Party of Punjab with the Congress in January 2016.
Manpreet also slammed the ruling AAP, alleging Punjab had slipped on all parameters with “poverty, anti-nationalism and bribery now defining the state”.
Sources said more significant inductions into the BJP are likely in the coming days.
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