Badals should have preferred veteran Brahmpura: Captain
Tuesday, 27/05/2014
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CHANDIGARH: Former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday said the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) should have got senior Akali leader Ranjit Singh Brahmpura inducted into the union cabinet rather than Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal.
Reacting on the issue of representation to the Akali Dal in the union ministry, the CWC member said though it was the discretion of the party to nominate its minister, Brahmpura should have got preference since he had given his life to the party.
Amarinder hailed PM Narendra Modi’s invite to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif for the ceremony. He said Sharif ’s visit had sent a positive signal across the sub-continent, especially Punjab that would benefit immensely once relationship between the countries improve.
After submitting his resignation from Patiala assembly segment, to a question on the antidrugs drive launched by the state government, Amarinder said, “If they have the right intentions, I welcome it; but it won’t solve any problem till the big fish is caught.”
‘SPECIAL PACKAGE?’
Several state Congress leaders has also accused the Badals of selling Punjab’s interests for a cabinet berth for Harsimrat. “Instead of the ministry, the CM should have demanded a special package for debt-ridden Punjab,” said Congress MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. In a release issued here, senior Congress leaders Randhawa, Tripat Rajinder Bajwa, SS Sukh Sarkaria, Harpartap Singh Ajnala, Sawinder Singh Kathunangal and Dharambir Agnihotri lashed out at the SAD, saying the Badal family is concentrating all the powers with it.
‘AKALIS LEARN NO LESSON’
PPCC general secretary Rajanbir Singh issued a statement that the Badal family had refused to learn lessons from the “drubbing” in the recent Lok Sabha elections in which the “people gave vent to their anger” against the SAD-BJP misrule.
