Sukhbir, His Wife Harsimrat Doing 'petty Politicking': Punjab CM

Chandigarh, May 19 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today lashed out at the Shiromani Akali Dal, saying the opposition party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal were indulging in "petty politicking" on the issue of farmers' plight.

He said the people of the state, particularly the distressed farmers, had expected the former deputy chief minister and his union minister wife to pressure the central government to come to the rescue of the farming community.

"But far from doing so, the Badals were simply indulging in petty politicking on such a sensitive issue, which was a matter of life or death for the farmers," Singh said in a statement here.

He said that instead of asking the BJP-led central government, in which the SAD is a part and Harsimrat a minister, to come out in support of the Punjab government's programmes to alleviate the sufferings of the farmers, Badal was leaving no opportunity to undermine the state government's efforts on this count.

The chief minister also dismissed as "ridiculous and baseless" the SAD chief's reported allegation that he was "trying to pass the buck" on farm loan waiver. He lashed out at the SAD president for "trying to mislead the farmers" with his "brazenly false and unfounded" statement.

Singh said had the SAD-BJP government done anything for the state's farmers during their 10-year rule, the farming community would not be under such acute distress today.

While his government, said the Chief Minister, was doing everything in its powers to bring succour to the beleaguered farmers, the "financial mess" left by the Badals and their government prevented it from give immediate total relief to them, necessitating the Centre's intervention.

He said a total of Rs 999.98 crore worth of cooperative bank loans of 2,02,186 farmers had already been waived, and the waiver of the remaining debt of farmers in this category would be given by November this year, notwithstanding the "financial mess" inherited by his government from the previous government.

Singh also sought to know if the Centre did not have any responsibility towards the farmers of Punjab, considering that the agrarian problem has "assumed the proportions of a national crisis".

"While my government will continue to find ways and means of waiving the debts of the farmers, as promised, the farming community will not forget or forgive the treatment meted out to them by the Akalis, led by the Badals," he added.

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