Day after the newly-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi constituted his Cabinet, including Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal as a lone leader from the State, Punjab Congress on Tuesday blamed him for perpetuating ‘dynasty politics’ — the main issue he raised during lok Sabha polls.
Modi, all through his election campaign, had attacked the Gandhi clan for passing on Congress party’s reins from one family member to another, and promoting their own family by referring to
the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre as maa-bete ki sarkar”.
“It is ironic that Narendra Modi, in his very first decision on the day of his swearing-in, has gone against his own principle of opposition to dynastic politics, the core of his election campaign, by inducting Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Akali Dal in his Cabinet,” said Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa.
He pointed that Harsimrat “is the wife of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, who happened to be the only son of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Punjab’s Food and Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon is Badal’s son-in-law. Controversial Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia, whose name has surfaced in the drug smuggling racket, is Harsimrat’s brother. Thus, all members of the immediate and extended Badal family are in the Government”.
Bajwa said that there was no other such example of the promotion of dynasty in the country and this happened to be another ‘distinction’ achieved by Punjab under Badal’s leadership. “In the process, senior leaders like Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Balwinder Singh Bhunder have been ignored,” he added.
Making it clear, Bajwa said that he was not against representation being given to Punjab in the Modi cabinet per se but “Modi need to explain if it does not amount to promoting dynastic politics”. “Harsimrat’s induction as a minister shows that Modi’s vitriolic attack on dynasty politics was a farce, drama and a gimmick to whip up public sentiments for cheap electoral gains only,” said Congress former MlA Sukhpal Singh Khaira.