Sukhbir Badal’s no to national politics

He also ruled out the possibility of contesting the Nawanshahr by-election, where the seat had fallen vacant after Charanjit Singh Channi’s victory from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat.

However, Sukhbir left the door open for a return to state politics. “It all depends on the party president. If I am asked to contest the Assembly elections, I will certainly do so,” he said.

He also denied that he was being groomed to take over from his father, saying such decisions rested on the party and not on the individual.He revealed that an in-depth examination of the failures andmistakes which had led to the SAD’s debacle in these Lok Sabha elections was underway and steps would be taken to rectify the shortcomings.

Denying that charges of corruption and nepotism involving Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal’s family were responsible for his defeat or the party’s debacle, Sukhbir said, “The family is in no way involved with the running of the government. P.S. Badal is solely in charge. I also challenge anyone to bring forth a single case in which any member of our family or I have taken money to get work done. These kind of allegations are commonplace in Punjab and the Opposition in general has nothing more to say in way of evidence.”

Attributing his Faridkot defeat to the fact that “expectations of the party are very high”, Sukhbir said, “We did a lot of work but the people expected more. This is because they repose such faith in our party. Where the Congress is concerned, they are satisfied with much less.” He added, “I have devoted a lot of time to my constituency and amthankful to those who have voted for me.”

He, however, refused to comment on his party’s refusal to accept a ministry in the Central Government. “During my term, Punjab benefitted immensely, aided in part by the close cooperation between our party president and the Prime Minister. That cooperation is still in place. As far as the refusal to accept a ministry goes, that question is best addressed to the party president or a member of the political affairs committee,” he said. He denied charges that intra-party squabbling was diverting the attention of the government from developmental work. He said in fact more development projects were being taken up with an eye on the future.