Prove Punjab was in the red when I was chief minister, Amarinder dares Badal
Sunday, 29/03/2015
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
SAYS STATE’S REVENUE FIGURES ARE IN PUBLIC DOMAIN AND NOBODY DISPUTES THEIR VERACITY EXCEPT BADAL
PATIALA: The Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Amarinder Singh, on Saturday challenged Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to prove his statement asserting the state had suffered a revenue deficit in fiscal 2006-07 when the former was the CM. Reacting to Badal’s claims he had lied about the state having a ` 2,000 crore revenue surplus during this period, Amarinder said: “Let Mr Badal prove me wrong and I’ll quit politics and, if he fails to do so, he should resign for misleading the public”.
The former chief minister said the state’s revenue figures were in public domain and nobody disputed their veracity “except Badal”. “Not only was the state revenue surplus but the government was also able to meet all expenses, including timely payments to farmers during crop procurement and release of funds for old age pensions and ‘shagun’ schemes,” he said.
“I can understand Badal’s skepticism. For a man who has presided over the bankruptcy of the state, it would be hard to believe the state was revenue surplus when he took over. Also, it might well be possible that Badal, the pathological liar that he is, deliberately lied (about the revenue figures) in a futile attempt to hide the facts from the public, despite being fully aware about the facts”, Amarinder remarked.
“It’s not the first time the Akalis have challenged me about my accomplishments when I was heading the state. In 2011 I had released a list of 51 achievements, with a copy sent to the Badals, but the Akalis had no answers then as they don’t have any now,” he said.
