"Maharaja's" Darbar has a court jester and official poet but no FM
SAD president and former Deputy Chief Minister Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal today blasted the budget presented by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal last week as " a black paper of white lies.
"What this government needs is a good Finance Minister but what it has got is a bad accountant.A good budget and a good Finance Minister gives fresh and constructive ideas while a bad budget and bad FM give only figures.," said Mr Badal
"This is not even a budget as it contains no vision of the government and no have been set for Punjab nor any road map to take the State forward. “It is just a statement of broken promises and directionless policies with no fresh and constructive ideas nor vision nor a programme of action. There is nothing new in it as it just repeats all the figures and fake promises presented last year," said Mr Badal addressing the Punjab Vidhan Sabha this evening.
Mr Badal also had a dig at the Congress government saying that the Chief Minister was really acting like a Maharaja of the older times."These Maharajas used to keep a state poet (Raj Kavi) and a court jester (a maskhara). Captain Amarinder Singh has both a poet and a joker with him but no Finance Minister," said Mr Badal, without naming any minister.
Mr Badal said the budget contained only misquoted poetry of anti-India poets like Iqbal who were the main figures in breaking up the country into two parts. "Iqbal and Jinnah set brotherly communities of Hindus and Muslims against each other. Manpreet Singh is also an expert in dividing brothers and therefore his choice of the poet, in preference to our leading and beloved poets like Tagore, Gulzar and Prof Mohan Singh,is not surprising."
Mr Badal said the economy runs on market sentiment but this government and its Finance Minister have been destroying the market on sentiment on Punjab which acts as a blockade against investment in the State," he added.
Mr Badal also stressed how the Congress government had not released even one rupee for development of any village or city in the State.
“Finance minister Manpreet Badal used to say that he will get one industry to the State every year. Where is the industry now”. Mr Badal said this had happened because the FM was asserting every day that the treasury was empty.
Mr Badal said the situation was such that the government had stopped all welfare schemes including cycles for girl students, Shagun scheme, SC scholarships and sports kits. He said even the CM Teerath Yatra scheme had been stopped as well as the Kabaddi World Cup.
Stating that the chief minister had also appreciated the work done by the SAD- BJP government led by S Parkash Singh Badal, the SAD president said the CM had publically acknowledged that the memorials constructed by the SAD- BJP government were world class. He saidtoday the CM had praised the initiative taken by S Parkash Singh Badal tostart the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Institute to train youth tobecome officers in the Indian army.
Analysing last year’s budget with this year’s, the SAD president said noneof the allocations kept in the budget last year had been achieved. He saidwhile benches worth Rs 22 crore has been earmarked in the last budget without any progress, now money had been earmarked for furniture. He said similarly five new degree colleges were allocated for the State last year without any progress. “Now ten degree colleges have been allocated in this year’s budget”. Mr Badal said similarly University of Sports Promotion had been allocated for Patiala last year but nothing was done. “Now a Sports University has been earmarked for Patiala in this budget”.
Giving more details, Mr Badal said Rs ten crore had been allocated for giving mobile phones to youth in the last budget without doing anything on this front. “This issue has been forgotten now”, he added. Similarly he said Medical University had been promised for Mohali again. He said tea leaves and sugar had been promised to the under privileged but nothing had been done to make this a reality. He said same was the case with the Sham Singh Attariwala armed forces institute promised for Amritsar. -PTC News
