Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday sought to distance himself from the removal of Manpreet Badal as the Finance Minister,saying he was unaware of the move. While calling Manpreets suspension from the party a decision of the Akali Dal disciplinary committee,he said his removal from the Cabinet was the prerogative of the chief minister alone. In his press conference,Manpreet had attacked Sukhbir,accusing him of making the party his pesonal fiefdom.v In Bathinda to inaugurate a railway underbridge,Sukhbir said he was not aware that Manpreet had been sacked. Its the chief ministers prerogative to decide on the fate of any minister, he said. The deputy CM also hinted that Manpreet had faced the rap for anti-party activities. The party is supreme. If Sardar Parkash Singh Badal has become Chief Minister,it is because of the party. If I have won,it is because of the party,its banners and its workers. Sukhbir also claimed we are the biggest supporters of debt waiver an issue on which the break with Manpreet finally happened. He,his wife Harsimrat Badal (Bathinda MP) and Badal senior have been taking up the matter with the Union government,Sukhbir said. This (debt waiver) is our right, he added,listing the wave of militancy,shift of industries to neighbouring states and the depleting water table as some of the reasons for the mounting debt in a state that fed the country. We want complete (debt) waiver. The CM,every MP and every forum has made effort. It is not Sukhbir Badal or for that matter (anybody else) who can come forward and take credit for the same, Sukhbir said.
