A day after Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order a probe into the embezzlement of Central rations by Congressmen in Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday lashed out at SAD’s Sukhbir Badal and Union minister Harsimrat Badal for misleading the people of the state to promote their petty political agenda in the midst of the Covid crisis.

In a hard-hitting attack on the Badal couple, the CM said people of Punjab would not be taken in by the political antics and crocodile tears of the Akali leaders, who had looted Punjab shamelessly for a decade without sparing any thought for the problems of the masses, he said.

Flaying Sukhbir Badal over his allegations of ration embezzlement by Congressmen in Punjab, the CM said MLAs (members of legislative Assembly) were supporting his government’s efforts to ensure that nobody goes hungry.

Amarinder ridiculed Sukhbir’s allegations that the foodgrains received by the state government had not been distributed among the people, pointing out that even the figures cited by the SAD president were totally incorrect, showing how pathetically removed he was from reality.

The fact was that the quantity of food grains received by the state government till June was more than the figures given by Sukhbir, with over 90 per cent of it distributed.

Taking on Harsimrat on the issue of fuel Value Added Tax, the CM said if she was so concerned about the impact of the escalating fuel prices on the common man, why did she not pressurise the Union government, in which she is a cabinet minister, to put a stop on the uncontrolled hike in prices of diesel and petrol for 22 straight day.

Harsimrat seemed to have had no problem with the central government earning more than Rs 2 lakh crore from the fuel price hike but when it came to her own state, which was reeling under an unprecedented fiscal crisis and was struggling to cope with the Covid pandemic, she found it anti-people, remarked the CM.

“If the Badals are sincere in opposing the fuel price hike by the Centre, as they claim to be, why don’t they quit the NDA coalition at the Centre? Why is Harsimrat still in the Union Cabinet?” asked Amarinder.