Badal never bailed out indebted farmers: Cong ministers

Chandigarh, Oct 16 (UNI) Reacting sharply to the criticism of the ruling Congress by the Akalis over the issue of waiving the loan of the poor indebted farmers, Punjab ministers today said that Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal had done nothing for the state's debt-ridden peasantry even during the previous Akali-BJP regime in the state.

Dubbing Mr Badal as a ''liar and a self-centered man,'' Deputy Chief Minister Bibi Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and three other ministers Surinder Singla, Partap Singh Bajwa and Jasjit Singh Randhawa said that Mr Badal's only aim was to further the interest of his son and his family.

''When the agricultural crisis was at its peak due to the wrong and anti-people policies of the erstwhile Badal government and the debt ridden farmers were committing suicides, why did Parkash Singh Badal then never raise the demand for a package for farmers,'' the ministers said in a joint statement issued here.

The ministers ridiculed Mr Badal for raising unnecessary allegations on the efforts of the Punjab government to secure a package and expressed the hope that something would be worked out soon for the farmers.

They further castigated Mr Badal for ''his self-centered approach and for bringing Punjab farmers at a brink of disaster and exploiting the sentiments of Punjabis''.

They said that when Mr Badal was a part of the NDA government, he preferred a ministerial berth for his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and the survival of his ''unsteady government'' in the state, rather than redressing the problems of the Punjabis in general and farmers in particular.

They claimed that it was the Congress government in Punjab which, after assuming the charge, reduced the interest rate on the cooperative loans given to the farmers from 14 to seven per cent and revived the dying farming community in the state.

Due to the progressive policies and diversification plan of Capt.

Amarinder Singh-led government in Punjab, the farming community was back on the rails again, the statement added.

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