Centre will bail out Punjab from financial stringency, says Punjab CM Badal

Chhapaar(Ludhiana): Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday exuded confidence that the Centre will bail the state out of “financial stringency” in the near future. Badal, who was here for annual Chhapaar mela, while reacting to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s recent letter to Punjab government purportedly refusing any financial package to the state said “the Centre would bail out the state from financial stringency”. [caption id=“attachment_1704527” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal. Agencies[/caption] He also termed Jaitley a true statesman and a seasoned politician of high stature, who never nursed any personal grudge against any individual or party. Badal reiterated the SAD-BJP combine has a “pious and long lasting alliance” where such petty considerations have even no place in the minds of national leaders like Jaitley, “who was vying for overall development and prosperity of the states to make our nation strong without any bias or prejudice”. About making the Jaitley’s letter public as demanded by Punjab Congress President Partap Singh Bajwa, Badal said the letter has been reported in the media and now there was hardly any need to make it public. Expressing “anguish and concern” over the attacks on Sikhs in Pakistan, the Chief Minister said he would take up the matter with the Union Government, seeking their intervention by asking the Pakistan government to ensure the security and safety of Sikhs living there. Accusing Congress of its “partisan role” to “weaken” Sikh institutions, the Chief Minister said sacred institutions like SGPC were strong-hold of Sikh community and such deliberate attempts to destabilise them would never be tolerated by Sikhs “It was very unfortunate and highly deplorable on the part of Congress to meddle in the religious affairs of the Sikhs, which had ever remained inimical to the Sikh community,” he said. PTI