Jalandhar: Terming Punjab as the most 'corrupt' state in the country, People's Party of Punjab leader Manpreet Badal accused the state finance minister of acting as merely the 'munim' (accountant) of the government. "Punjab is the most corrupt state in the country. The people looting the state are being actively shielded by the ministers," said Manpreet Badal, the former state finance minister.
He was speaking to reporters after the ending of the two day 'Chintan Shivir' of his party in Jalandhar on Tuesday. Terming the state economy as 'weak' the former minister said the finance minister alone can't be blamed as he was helpless and doesn't have any powers. 'The finance minister can't be blamed for the sorry condition of state exchequer. He maybe the only finance minister in the country who doesn't have the Excise and Taxation division under him. He is merely acting as the 'munim' (accountant) of the government,' he added.
He claimed that the state will be under more than one lakh crore debt by the year end, adding, the government needs to regulate its expenses and end the VIP culture in the state. Blasting the SAD-BJP government for its recent 'Chintan Shivir' in Goa, he said the employees are not getting their wages while those in power are enjoying "leisure trips". "Petrol and electricity are very expensive in the state, and even then excessive VAT is being levied on them," he said. On the issue of electing the Lokayukta, he
02:24 AM, Apr 17, 2013
The Delhi Police will submit a report on Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's Hindu terror remark at a court on Monday. An application had been filed at Delhi's Tees Hazari court for registering an FIR against the Home Minister. ...
12:18 PM, Feb 25, 2013
Can Rahul Gandhi turn the tide for the Congress before the 2014 polls? Political analyst and senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the issue. ...
05:10 PM, Jan 21, 2013
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday hit out at the UPA government for Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's remark that the BJP and its ally, the RSS, were promoting Hindu terrorism through their training camps. The BJP demanded that UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demand an unconditional apology and also the resignation of Shinde. ...
04:04 PM, Jan 21, 2013
Parliament attack convict Hafiz Saeed on Monday praised Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for his remark that the principal Opposition party, the BJP and its ally, the RSS, were promoting Hindu terrorism through their training camps. Praising the minister, Saeed said, "Shinde has spoken truth finally. We consider this a help from Allah for Pakistan which is always (accused) by India for terrorism." Terrorist group, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa too tweeted, saying,...
02:58 PM, Jan 21, 2013
CNN-IBN's deputy bureau chief Pallavi Ghosh joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on what the 2-day Congress Chintan Shivir is likely to discuss. ...
02:57 PM, Jan 21, 2013
The BJP, the RSS and the Congress are yet again involved in a war of words, this time over Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's remarks that the training camps run by them were promoting Hindu terrorism. At the last day of the Congress's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur, Shinde took to stage and while talking about the security situation in the country, flayed the BJP and the RSS for what "promoting...
02:42 PM, Jan 21, 2013
The newly-appointed Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday made an emotional pitch to the Congress in Jaipur and proclaimed his love for the people of the country and his party. While addressing the party members at the end of the two-day Chintan Shivir, Rahul thanked the party members for appointing him as the party's vice president and said, "I will fight for Congress and people of India with whatever...
10:44 AM, Jan 21, 2013
At his first speech after being elevated as the Congress Vice President, Rahul Gandhi had party members in tears with an emotional appeal to transform the system. But it remains to be seen whether his speech will translate on the ground. ...
07:50 AM, Jan 21, 2013
In his first address after being appointed Vice President of Congress, Rahul Gandhi on Sunday spoke of the anger of the youth saying they feel alienated from the political class and demanded a complete transformation of the system to give them a role in the political space. ...
05:31 AM, Jan 21, 2013
Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Sunday received praise from the BJP with the party describing his speech in the 80s as "passionate" and "inspiring," while dismissing Rahul Gandhi's Jaipur speech as that of an "opposition leader". ...
03:52 AM, Jan 21, 2013
The three-day Chintan Shivir deliberations have filled the Congress with "new energy and resolve" and if the party abides by its new declaration, nothing can stand in the way of its progress, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said in Jaipur on Sunday. ...
02:41 AM, Jan 21, 2013
The BJP on Sunday sought to link Rahul Gandhi's elevation as the Congress vice president to "family inheritance", and said he sounded like a leader of the opposition in his first speech after assuming the new role. ...
01:40 AM, Jan 21, 2013
Congress's newly appointed vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday termed his party funny as it functioned without any rules or regulations despite being the largest in the world. ...
12:57 AM, Jan 21, 2013
The Congress will set up a legal cell for redressal of women's grievances, and will reserve 30 per cent positions at all levels for them, said the declaration adopted by the party in Jaipur on Sunday. ...
12:20 AM, Jan 21, 2013
Praising the current government, Rahul said, "All the development in India has been possible because of Congress and the governments led by it." ...
11:23 PM, Jan 20, 2013
The three-day Chintan Shivir deliberations have filled the Congress with "new energy and resolve" and if the party abides by its new declaration, nothing can stand in the way of its progress, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said on Sunday. Thanking party delegates at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) meet here, Gandhi expressed happiness over the manner in which party business was transacted over the three days and hailed it...
08:35 PM, Jan 20, 2013
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Sunday compared Congress's newly appointed Vice President Rahul Gandhi to his father and former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. "It was a resurrection of Rajiv Gandhi, I heard his voice and tone," Aiyar said after Rahul made an emotional speech at Congress's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur. ...
06:22 PM, Jan 20, 2013
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday reacted to Rahul Gandhi's appointment as the Congress Vice President by raising questions over his potential, saying it has to be seen whether the nation accepts him as a leader on the basis of "family inheritance". "The world's largest democracy cannot be put to risk by risking ourselves in the hands of those whose actual potential we do not know, whose opinion on...
06:05 PM, Jan 20, 2013
Newly-appointed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday stressed the need to change the "centralised system" which is unaccountable to the people, and respect the youths' demand for a greater role in decision-making. "The time has come to question the centralised, unaccountable system. Decision making must shift from Delhi to the panchayat," Gandhi said, speaking on the last day of three-day introspection meet of the All India Congress Committee (AICC)....
05:40 PM, Jan 20, 2013
