Manpreet, the backstage performer
In the ongoing factional feud in the ruling Congress in Punjab, finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has maintained stoic silence despite grave provocation, making his moves behind the scenes. When a reporter of this newspaper got in touch with him after the party was plunged into another crisis by state chief Navjot Sidhu’s dramatic resignation, Manpreet played aloof, saying that he did not have any idea about the goings-in. “I have been busy holding meetings with officers of my department. Tussi jaana thanedar kole si, tussi aage tehsildar kole (You needed to go to SHO, but you have come to tehsildar),” the finance minister said, fobbing off the query. But, few in the state Congress are willing to buy this, given his proximity to former party president Rahul Gandhi, and the role he is said to have played in pushing Charanjit Singh Channi’s name for the chief minister’s post.