Parkash Singh Badal, Capt Amrinder Singh 'power' struggle gets ugly

The Times of India: Chandigarh: Tuesday, June 26, 2012.

The 'power' struggle between chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and Congress state chief Capt Amarinder Singh took on an acrimonious turn in Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Monday after the latter blamed the CM for 'deliberately humiliating him' by getting power raids conducted at his residence, New Moti Bagh Palace, at Patiala.

Provoked by unsavory remarks of Akali MLA Sohan Singh Thandal that Capt Amarinder Singh had set a bad example by 'stealing' power, the former CM was prodded into clarifying, "Only my 90-year-old mother lives at the Moti Bagh Palace and rest of the family visits it for less than three-four days in a month. I was told that the team of raiders was sent to my place after approval from the CM. I believe this was done with the sole purpose to humiliate me for political reasons."

This did not go down too well with the CM who was up on his feet to defend himself. "I can tell you that I had no knowledge about it and I would do nothing to hurt anyone." But Capt Amarinder insisted, "No, I was told that you knew about the raid and it was done with your consent. What has hurt me is that the raid was just to gather information on the power load which was required for an RTI application. If I had been approached by the department, I would have given the required information. Anyway, the information the PSPCL wanted from the raids is already with them. It was just an excuse."

The PCC president made it clear that a transformer was installed in the Moti Bagh Palace with an electricity meter. Besides, he said, there were two parts within the palace -- one for Moti Bagh Palace and another for the servant quarters. He said all the bills were duly and regularly paid. The raids had been conducted on Saturday where all 11 power meters were checked.

I am not a rainmaker: Badal

In response to the leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar's attack on the government for pathetic power supply, the chief minister blamed it on lack of rains which has pushed demand from 10% to 18%. Expressing his helplessness, he said, "Main oh Badal taan hai nahin, jo meen karva de" (I am a Badal but not a rain maker), he said.