Newsmaker | A fallen star, Manpreet Badal now seeks a new lease of life in BJP

Badal joined Akali Dal at a young age and contested his first Assembly election from the Gidderbaha constituency in Muktsar district in 1995, winning the first of his five terms. He retained the seat in the three subsequent elections (till 2007). Given his illustrious academic record, he was once considered one of the brightest stars in the SAD constellation, and was appointed finance minister in the SAD-BJP government. Three years later though, he stepped down following differences with the government over a debt waiver scheme. A month later, in October 2010, the Akali Dal expelled him.

Badal went on to float his own outfit, called the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP), in January 2011 and firmed up an alliance with the CPI, the CPI(M), and the SAD (Longowal) before the 2012 Assembly elections. He contested from Gidderbaha and Maur but lost both seats. His father Gurdas Badal contested against Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi and lost badly, forfeiting even his security deposit. The SAD-BJP returned to power for a consecutive term as Manpreet’s party sank.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the PPP allied with the Congress and the former minister contested the parliamentary polls from Bathinda against his sister-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal on a Congress symbol. Harsimrat had defeated former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder by more than 1.1 lakh votes in her debut parliamentary election in 2009 but against Manpreet, her tally came down to 19,395 votes. The former minister remained active in Bathinda despite the defeat and on January 15, 2016, merged his party with the Congress.

In 2017, he found himself back in power, winning from Bathinda Urban and again got charge of the finance ministry, this time in the Amarinder Singh-led government. As a finance minister, the 60-year-old Badal claimed to have helped improve the state’s financial health. He has presented the Budget a record eight times.

Though one of Badal’s major promises on the campaign trail was reviving the Guru Nanak Dev Thermal power plant in Bathinda, which, he claimed, had been neglected by the SAD-BJP government. But, the Congress government did not change course and moved towards closing down the plant. This decision received Badal’s backing and on January 1, 2018, this thermal power plant was closed down. For Badal’s political rivals, this became an issue with which it kept up its attacks against him.

He also did not get along well with some leaders in the Congress, especially current state Congress chief and Gidderbaha MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who once complained to Amarinder Singh about the minister. During the Assembly polls, Warring even used the campaign slogan “Saare Badal hara deo, Bathinde wala Badal vi hara deo (Ensure all Badals lose, even the one contesting from Bathinda).”

Warring’s wish came true as all Badals — including Manpreet, Parkash Singh and Sukhbir — lost their Assembly seats. Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Jagrup Singh Gill who defeated Badal was earlier a Congress councillor and developed differences with the former minister in 2020 after he was overlooked for a Badal loyalist for the post of Bathinda mayor.

Manpreet Badal is a Doon school graduate. He completed his higher education from St Stephen’s College in Delhi and later received a law degree from the University of London. Apart from English, Punjabi, and Hindi, he is a fluent Urdu speaker. He often uses Urdu couplets in his speeches.