Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today said Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) chief Manpreet Badal was getting jittery because his past was catching up with him with all the people whom he had oppressed coming out in the open now.In a statement here, the Deputy chief minister said besides the showroom in Chandigarh against whose tenant a case under the scheduled caste atrocities act was registered, the PPP chief was also accused of having usurped a petrol pump besides taking over Wakf board land. "There are many more instance of high handedness committed by Manpreet Badal in his former constituency of Gidderbaha also", he added.Mr Badal however made it clear that the law would take its own course and that it was for the victims of Mr Manpreet Badal's oppression to come forward and register their complaints. He said as far as the SAD was concerned, it had never pursued a politics of personal vendetta and was not going to start doing so now.
The SAD President said recent turn of events had proved that the PPP chief was hand in glove with the Congress during his tenure as finance minister of Punjab. "Manpreet entered into a conspiracy with then union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee who promised to provide him a financial package and also help to become the next chief minister in case he was able to split the SAD".He said when Manpreet failed to split the SAD, the Congress encouraged him to form a separate entity hoping it would harm the prospects of the SAD in the 2012 assembly elections. "When Manpreet came a cropper in the assembly elections, the Congress took him back into its fold proving that both the PPP chief and the Congress were in an understanding all along".
The SAD president said Manpreet's past was catching up with him. "His opportunism has rebounded on him with people keeping away from his meetings. "The situation has become such that while the PPP has been virtually destroyed by him, the Congress rank and file is not extending cooperation to him. Manpreet may shout from the house tops that he has become a primary member of the Congress but the cadre which has been victimised at his hands is not ready to extend support to him", he added.The Deputy CM said even senior Congress leaders were absent from the PPP chief's campaign. "Congress leaders have virtually disappeared from Bathinda and many are claiming they have been deputed for the campaign of other senior leaders including Capt Amarinder Singh. This means there is no one to lead the Congress campaign in favour of Manpreet in Bathinda", he added.