The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said finance minister Manpreet Badal should be booked for abetting suicide of an Ajnala farmer who took his life today after holding the Punjab government responsible for failing to implement a complete loan waiver as promised. He also demanded the Punjab government and Congress party should also be made party in the case.In a statement here, the SAD President said immediate action should be taken against Manpreet Badal because he was responsible for implementing the loan waiver by allocating money for the same in the State budget. "Despite an announcement by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh that farmer loans would be waived off the finance minister allocated only Rs 1,500 crore for this purpose in the State budget. This despite accumulated farmer loans touching Rs 90,000 crore. Even this amount was not released making it clear Manpreet Badal had stopped release of even this paltry sum to farmers", he added.Stating that all this proved that Manpreet Badal had indulged in a bogus farm loan waiver exercise, the SAD president demanded that he be sacked immediately for not following the mandate of the Congress government.
He said Manpreet Badal did not have any excuse for not going through with the promised loan waiver exercise. "He was Chairman of the Manifesto drafting committee. He claimed he had spent six months to finalise its contents. Now therefore he cannot escape responsibility for the death of Major Singh of Ajnala today as well as 120 other farmers who committed suicide after realizing he had no intention to honour the promise made to them”.Stating that Manpreet Badal was solely responsible for the present condition of the State farmers as well as khet mazdoor, the SAD president said Manpreet Badal knew the exact condition of State finances due to his earlier stint as finance minister. "That means he deliberately led farmers to commit suicide by befooling them through various tactics, including getting them to fill forms to give the impression that he would honour his promise”, Mr Badal added.The SAD president said the party would come to the aid of farmers. "We will shortly come out with a party programme to mobilise the farmers and force the Congress government to execute a complete loan waiver as promised by it", he added.