New Delhi / Chandigarh: Former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet S Badal on Wednesday resigned from the primary membership of the Congress, blaming factionalism and joined the BJP in Delhi.
“Regretfully, given the prevalent culture within the party and the defiant desire to persist in the present course, I no longer wish to be a part of the Indian National Congress,” Mr Badal said in his resignation letter to Mr Rahul Gandhi.
“Far from being acknowledged or appreciated for my efforts, I was vilified in the Punjab Congress for failing to display what can only be described as fiscal recklessness. I do not see the point in elaborating extensively on all the particular proceedings that led to my ultimate and irrevocable disaffection,” he said.
After joining the BJP, Mr Badal said: “How can you operate in a party which is at war with itself.”
“I thank Piyush Goyal. I have spent 30 years in politics. There is a track record of BJP, PM Modi. India is diplomatically strong. India making progress. The question is where Punjab stands in it. These are very exciting to be politician. The day we will become $5 trillion economy, we will become a meaningful society,” he said.
He added he could no longer be part of the Congress, the Grand Old Party, that served factions and he could also no longer see the plight of students migrating abroad in search of livelihood.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who invited Mr Badal in the BJP-fold, said, “Manpreet S Badal is an experienced political leader who has served Punjab. We welcome you, and I believe, the party will become stronger in Punjab and the country.”
Mr Goyal added Mr badal had presented nine budgets as the Punjab Finance Minister.
A five-time legislator, Mr Badal is another senior-most leader of the Congress to join the BJP in the past few months after former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar.
He is also the fifth minister from the previous Congress regime to switch loyalties. The four are Mr Balbir Sidhu, Mr Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Mr Raj Kumar Verka and Mr Sundar Sham Arora.
Mr Badal’s strained relations the Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has been an open secret. On January 17, Mr Badal’s resignation came at a time when Mr Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was in Punjab, which he did not join.
Good riddance: Warring
The Congress took a swipe, saying “clouds (badal) over the Punjab Congress have cleared”.
Reacting to Mr Badal’s quitting the Congress, State unit President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring tweeted: “Good riddance. MS Badal is congenitally power hungry. He joined INC knowing the party was winning. Five years is a long time for someone like him to stay out of power for reasons not unknown to anyone. Instead of crying martyrdom, he should be apologising to the Congress for betrayal”.
Notably, it is the fourth party Mr Badal has joined since he began his political career in 1995 by winning Gidderbaha assembly byelection. The nephew of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, he was the Finance Minister in both the SAD-BJP and Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress Government.
He had joined the Congress in 2016 after formally merging his own party People’s Party of Punjab (PPP).
