Badals complicit in dismantling India’s federalism, say Punjab ministers

CHANDIGARH: Punjab cabinet ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Sunday lashed out at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Badal family for allegedly joining hands with those seeking to dismantle the country’s federal structure.

In a joint statement, the ministers said SAD patron and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who kept harping on about federal structure all his life, is silent over his son and daughterin-law being part of BJP-led government at the Centre which was against the spirit of federalism.

“The people of Punjab will never forgive them for this. The NDA government is interfering with the rights of the states as far as fiscal borrowing is concerned. Did the SAD president (Sukhbir) not remember his own party’s Anandpur Sahib resolution?” they questioned.

The party which calls itself the champion of the rights of the states is hand in glove with the NDA government, they claimed.

“Instead of opposing this draconian decision, the Akali leaders, are hatching a conspiracy to mislead the masses,” the ministers said.