Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s logic about the induction of his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal in Narendra Modi Cabinet had come under the scanner following the revelation made by SAD secretary general and sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
“Badal attributed Harsimrat’s elevation to her performance during her last tenure as MP as she was the most vocal Akali Dal in the House. He had given the impression that she was picked up by Modi purely on merit and the dynastic factor had not played any role in this,” stated Bajwa.
Referring to Dhindsa’s statement, who had maintained that he had recommended the names of senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Anandpur Sahib MP Prem Singh Chandumajra, Bajwa said: “None in the Akali Dal can question the authority of Badal or his son and the party president Sukhbir Badal.”
“The revelations by Dhindsa nails Badal’s justification he had given for Harsimrat’s induction, which is contrary to the vociferous opposition to dynastic politics by Modi during the election campaign. In the process, Badal has ignored Chandumajra who has been elected for the third time and had been a known face of Akali Dal during his earlier two terms in lok Sabha,” he added.
He said that Badal might have pressured BJP leadership in accommodating his daughter-in-law, “but the fact that she had not been given any important assignment is also an indication that her merit had no role to play.