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Congress minnows take on Badal

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal

CHANDIGARH: In an atmosphere where the “seasoned” leadership of the Congress party in Punjab has cited “political vendetta” and “misuse of official machinery” to explain their abstinence from media spotlight, the greenhorn legislators have dared the might and experience of the octogenarian Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, whose Akali-BJP alliance recently pocketed all the four Municipal Corporations that went to the polls.

A former NRI with a business background, Jasbir Singh Khangura, who as a debutant in electoral politics won the Qila Raipur seat in the State Assembly for the Congress for the first time in history and another first time MLA, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who toppled the former president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Bibi Jagir Kaur, at Bholath, seem to be emerging as the nodal points of dissent against the Government.

In a letter, Mr. Khangura has sought to call Mr. Badal’s bluff on the latter’s anti-Congress tirade on farmers’ issues. Referring to a recent statement, the legislator has asked Mr. Badal to clarify whether he wants to link the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of food grains with the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) or the Consumer Price Index (CPI).Mr. Khangura drew Mr. Badal’s attention to the fact that over the past 10 years the MSP of paddy and wheat had risen by 9.28 per cent and 13.05 per cent, respectively, which was much above the rate of inflation, depicted in the WPI, during the period. He said that during Mr. Badal’s previous tenure in office between 1997 and 2002, the MSP of wheat trailed by 5.24 per cent and paddy by 1.55 per cent, along the WPI.

Claiming that the subsequent Congress government led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had a better record in protecting the interests of the farmers, Mr. Khangura said the MSP of wheat during 2002-07 exceeded the WPI by 12.36 per cent and that of paddy by 4.24 per cent.

Mr. Khangura advised Mr. Badal to seek a five per cent increment in MSP over the CPI, so that the real income of the farmers is augmented and their debt burdens are reduced. On the other hand, Sukhpal Singh Khaira went hammers and tongs after the C M and his MP son, Sukhbir Singh, for “unleashing a reign of terror to snuff out every voice of dissent”.

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Congress minnows take on Badal

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