PPP’s merger with Cong unconditional, claims Manpreet
Tuesday, 19/01/2016
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AMRITSAR: Justifying the merger of People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) with the Congress, former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, nephew of the chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, on Monday stated that the convergence was unconditional.
Congress leaders Manpreet Singh Badal (centre) and Raj Kumar Verka (second from left) in Amritsar on Monday.
“Putting conditions before anyone is a sign of weakness. True love is always unconditional,” he claimed, during an interaction with reporters in Amritsar on Monday. He added that, however, he had conveyed a 10-point agenda before the Congress that had been accepted. Lauding Punjab Pradesh Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh for his role in the army, he said the state needed a brave leader like him at the helm.
Rubbishing the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)’s accusation that the Congress interfered in the religious matters of the Sikhs, Manpreet claimed that it was the SAD that interfered in such matters through the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
“Intermingling of religion and politics always causes destruction of society. Examples abound world-wide,” he added.
On his views on Miri Piri (taking care of both spiritual and temporal matters) in Sikhism, Manpreet said he respected the sacred concept, but it had lost its relevance.
“Secularism is the need of modern state and our Constitution too advocates the separation of politics and religion.” Even as he admitted to the possibility of a triangular contest in the state in assembly polls scheduled for 2017, he claimed that the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would not have any impact on the Congress.
“If it (a triangular contest) happens, then the SAD will be the biggest loser. The AAP will garner anti-incumbency votes. The Congress will not be impacted,” he cla
