The former finance minister of Punjab, Manpreet Badal, joined the BJP on January 18 just hours after quitting the Congress over what he termed as a “disappointing” attitude within the Congress towards Punjab and rife factionalism within the leadership.
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He joined the BJP at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi with Union Minister Piyush Goyal and party general secretary Tarun Chugh present at the event.
Mr. Badal, who is the nephew of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, had begun his electoral career in 1995 by winning the Gidderbaha bye-election as part of the SAD. BJP is the fourth party to which Mr. Badal is swearing loyalty to, starting SAD to floating his own outfit, the Punjab People’s Party and later merging that entity with the Congress.
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Addressing the media Mr. Badal attributed his joining the BJP to his meeting with Union Home minister Amit Shah.
“It’s a saying in Punjabi that ‘main aaya bjp office mein aapne mujhe hatho pe nahi aankho pe bitha lia’ (I arrived and your office and your hospitality overwhelmed me). I have been in politics for 30 years. A few days ago I met a tiger who was the Home Minister of India, he told me that Punjab has been attacked 400 times. His statement that ‘we will do everything for Punjab’ touched me and I am always concerned for Punjab and the future of Punjab,” he said.
Interestingly, Mr. Badal was the sole representative of the then Congress Government in Punjab when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security suffered a breach of his security in February 2022, and it was to Mr. Badal that PM Modi had addressed his words “Apne CM ko thanks kehna ki mein Bhatinda airport tak zinda laut paaya (Say thanks to your chief minister that I could return alive till Bhatinda airport).”
Sources tell The Hindu that Mr. Badal was apologetic on behalf of the administration over the security lapse.
Quitting the Congress, Mr. Badal wrote a letter to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, that a coterie of men in Delhi were running the affairs in Punjab and that this had only increased factionalism. He wrote that the way the Congress party has conducted its affairs and taken decisions, especially with regard to Punjab, has been disappointing.