AAP’s Harpal Singh Cheema accuses Captain Amarinder Singh and Badal family of 20-year embezzlement, warns Punjab won’t forget past corruption.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) attacked Captain Amarinder Singh, the former chief minister, and the Badal family, accusing them of being responsible for the two-decade-long plot to embezzle the state’s wealth.
Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema, the Punjab Finance Minister and Senior AAP leader, told a press conference at the party’s headquarters here that the leaders who were rejected by the Punjabi people—including former Congress chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, his relative Simranjeet Singh Mann, and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal—are once again aspiring to retake governance. According to Cheema, these two families’ politics of looting would no longer be tolerated in Punjab.
Cheema provided information on how the two families alternated power between 2002 and 2022, methodically enriching themselves and shielding one another from lawsuits. She disclosed that the Badal family was the target of cases pertaining to disproportionate assets valued at about 4000 crore during the 2002–2007 Captain government. The prosecution of these cases was purposefully postponed by Captain Amarinder Singh, nevertheless. Immediately after the SAD-BJP government assumed power in 2007, all cases were dismissed and put on hold. Cheema went on: “This was no coincidence; it was a deep-rooted, reciprocal agreement between the Badal and Captain families to facilitate mutual protection and looting of the state.”
In addition, the Finance Minister emphasized both regimes’ complete failure in relation to the sacrilege occurrences (Beadbi). He chastised Captain Amarinder Singh for making a false pledge in 2017 while holding the Gutka Sahib in his hands, and he attacked the Badal family for allowing the incidents to happen because of their conceit. Cheema went on to say that Captain Amarinder failed to take any real action against the offenders and instead exploited the Justice Ranjit Singh and Justice Zora Singh Commissions purely for political gain in Panchayat elections.
Cheema attacked Captain Amarinder Singh’s political legitimacy by calling him a “Master of Defection,” emphasizing his transition from the Akali Dal to the Congress, starting his own party, and finally joining the BJP. The AAP has long maintained that Captain Amarinder served more as the Chief Minister for the BJP than the Congress during his 2017–2022 term, and Cheema reaffirmed this claim. Also, Cheema claimed that because Captain Amarinder had a relationship with a woman from an enemy nation, which was unacceptable for someone in a constitutional position, he was answerable to the Central BJP government for national security measures.
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The accomplishments of the present AAP government, which is headed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, were markedly different, according to Finance Minister Cheema. According to him, Punjab’s 30 million residents have sought solace from the alcohol, drug, and sand mafias that flourished under the previous administrations under the AAP. Over 50,000 government employment have been given to Punjab’s youth by the AAP government, which has also successfully canceled the costly power purchase agreements that the SAD-BJP had signed, repurchased a private power plant, and given public 600 units of free electricity.
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema issued a harsh warning as he wrapped up his remarks, saying, “These people believe that Punjabis have forgotten their deceitful strategies, but they are unaware that Punjabis still exact revenge even after 20 years have passed. The people will never forget how these leaders hatched complex plots to deceive the public, how they embezzled the state’s resources, and how Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal first misused the hallowed Panthic positions, despite their behind-the-scenes unity. The AAP administration is steadfast in its commitment to standing up for the average citizenry and will make sure that these families’ plots are never successful.