Sarpanch says he is Manpreet man,latter blames Akalis

Baljinder,on the other hand,said: “It was Manpreet,who got me elected as the village sarpanch unanimously,without any elections. And I had been with him for years. Earlier,Congress used to be around 200 votes ahead in this village. When I became active,478 votes increased in favour of Manpreet when he was elected MLA in 2007. Similarly,during MP elections in 2009,when (Akali leader) Paramjit Kaur Gulshan was elected as Faridkot MP,I ensured an increase of 965 votes. All for Manpreet Badal.”

Told that he was spotted with Akali leader Gurpal Singh Gora in the party office at Gidderbaha after being bailed out,Baljinder said: “Gora is my cousin brother and I went there to address the media.”

When asked whether he was with Manpreet now,Baljinder said: “Right now I am not with anyone. I will decide when the polls near.” Asked he was said to have supported SAD during the SGPC polls,he claimed that SGPC polls was a religious election of Sikhs and he “did not play any role in it”.

Denying that he had slapped Varinder Kaur,Baljinder claimed that the whole issue has been politicised. Asked if he was not an Akali,what was he doing at the Sangat Darshan programme of Harsimrat Badal,he said: “I went there as a village sarpanch to represent the panchayat. We were to take up certain issues with the MP.”

When contacted,however,Manpreet said: “It is an Akali strategy to shift the blame on me.” Earlier in the day,he had visited Sukhna Ablu village and spent nearly an hour with Varinder Kaur’s family.

Manpreet said: “He (Baljinder) is one of the three Akali leaders,who had captured booths in the area during SGPC polls. He is a known supporter of Sukhbir Badal. In fact,when I came to know that he was not an upright man,in my capacity as finance minister at that time,I had ordered an audit of the village when he was alleged to have embezzled funds.” He added that he did not know the status of that audit,as he later quit as finance minister.

“A public apology from Harsimrat Kaur will diffuse the situation. I am sure people will forgive. She was a citizen,a lady and a teacher and what makes the incident worse is that there has been no remorse over the incident,” he said.