Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said former finance minister Surinder Singla was responsible for stalling the establishment of the Rs 20,000 crore Bathinda refinery for five years which had cost Bathinda and the people of the State dearly.In a statement here, the Bathinda MP said far from being responsible for bringing the refinery to Bathinda, Mr Singla had not even entered Bathinda politics when first talks for establishment of a refinery at Bathinda were initiated. “Mr Singla however does share the dubious distinction of delaying the project for five years during the regime of former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh in order to help a corporate house he was close to”, she added.
Asserting that the people of Bathinda were fooled once but would not be fooled twice, Ms Badal said Singla was in the habit of “parachuting”into Bathinda months prior to the polls. “He did this in 2002 and even brought senior Congress leaders to the constituency to show his clout in the party”,she said adding Mr Singla however disappeared from the scene once he was routed in the 2007 assembly elections. “Now he has resurfaced again along with a senior Congress leader from Delhi to test the waters”, she said adding the people however had seen through his game and would never trust him again.Ms Badal said it appeared that Mr Singla was lying by attributing development projects initiated and put on the ground by the SAD-BJP government as his own. “I know every nook and corner of the constituency like the back of my hand but have never heard of a single development project ever initiated by Mr Singla”, she said.The MP accused Mr. Singla of betraying the voters of Bathinda assembly constituency, who she said had given him the opportunity to represent the constituency and even hold the office of finance minister. She also appealed to the voters of Bathinda not to trust an absconder, who never bothered to visit them in last 7 years. She expressed confidence that should Mr Singla still enter the electoral fray the people of Bathinda constituency would teach him a lesson he would never forget.