Punjab’s former finance minister, Manpreet Badal, on Wednesday, resigned from Congress. Badal will be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party shortly.
In his letter to Rahul Gandhi, the former minister said that he is tendering his resignation from primary members of the party with “deep sadness”.
— Manpreet Singh Badal (@MSBADAL) January 18, 2023
“Seven years ago, I merged the People’s Party of Punjab with your party. I did so with immense hope, and an expectation of being integrated into an organisation with a rich history, that would allow me to serve both the people of Punjab and its interests to the best of my ability. Initial enthusiasm, gradually gave way to disappointing disillusionment,” he wrote in his letter.
Badal stated that the task of Punjab’s finance minister was not easy as he had “inherited an exchequer in shambles” which was “truly on brink of total collapse”.
Badal said that he had two options wherein he could ignore numerical realities and pursue populist policies which could exacerbate the state’s problems. Or he could “accept the fact that difficult decisions were desperately needed, and assiduously adhere to fiscal discipline. I chose the latter”.
