The People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) may see more desertions with its official spokesman and former legislator Bir Devinder Singh today calling party chief Manpreet Singh Badal ‘individualistic and autocratic’.
Bir Devinder’s statement comes at a time when the PPP president was getting ready to take on SAD’s Harsimrat Badal in the Bathinda parliamentary constituency.
Bir Devinder complained that the venue of today’s Sanjha Morcha meeting, which was to be held here, was suddenly shifted to Barnala. He said he was informed about the change when he had set out for Chandigarh.
The PPP spokesman said it was strange that an official meeting of Morcha was held at the residence of former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala, whose wife headed the SAD (Longowal)
The PPP leader claimed that Manpreet had been denying him the opportunity to hold talks with him one-on-one, despite repeated requests. “ I have been looking forward to such a privileged solitary audience for quite some time so that important political matters can be discussed,” he said.
Bir Devinder indicated that the situation in the PPP was grim with its founder Sardara Singh Johl expressing serious apprehensions about its performance.
He said a disillusioned Johl had chosen to put everything in black and white on his Facebook account under the title “Unsolicited Suggestions for Manpreet Badal”.
The PPP leader, who has earlier served in the SAD and the Congress, said he had told Manpreet that party leaders should not be treated like puppets. He said well-meaning people who had joined the PPP were moving away because of Manpreet’s “ individualistic and autocratic behaviour.” He advised Manpreet to treat his colleagues with the diginity they deserved.
The PPP chief, when contacted, said Bir Devinder had joined the PPP and then left it in the runup to the assembly elections. He said Bir Devinder had joined the party again so as to contest from Mohali. “I think he wants to quit the party now. Bir Devinder’s shelf life in any party is about six months,” he remarked.
Claiming that Bir Devinder had a track record of criticising his party leaders, Manpreet said the venue for today’s meeting was shifted to Barnala at Surjit Singh Barnala’s request because of health reasons. The PPP leader rubbished the claim that party activists needed an appointment to meet him. He claimed that Johl’s observations on Facebook were aimed at taking the PPP forward.
