Manpreet launches PPP

In what seemed like a “yellow uprising” in Punjab,rebel Akali leader and former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal launched a new political party,People’s Party of Punjab (PPP),from Khatkar Kalan,the native village of martyr Bhagat Singh,on Sunday,nearly six months after his ouster from the party and the government. The massive turnout of people in buses,cars and SUVs signalled that elections in Punjab slated for early next year may not remain bipolar — between SAD and Congress.

The event was high on symbolism — men sporting yellow bands on foreheads or yellow turbans and women in yellow suits and dupattas,the party’s yellow flag with alphabet ‘P’ in Punjabi and English. And the party’s first two candidates announced for the Assembly polls are nephews of martyrs Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev — Abhey Singh and Bharat Bhushan Thapar,respectively. Flanked by Singh and Thapar,Manpreet announced that the first two PPP candidates for “Verdict 2012” had the choice to contest from any constituency of the state,including his own Gidderbaha.

The reasons that led to his ouster from the government now make the agenda of his new party. It talks of ending dynastic rule,nepotism,governance by meritocracy and drastic cut in the personal expenses of ministers. He,however,toned down his opposition to subsidies — from eradication to making them targeted.

Citing vendetta politics,economic crisis,corruption,bribery,unemployment,drugs and alcoholism as “the many ills that ail Punjab”,he said: “The constitution of the party has been made to ensure that the corrupt do not get in…. I will not live to see Punjab sinking in debt and go with a begging bowl to Delhi. No Punjabi will partake bread brought with debt (karze de dabal roti),” he said during his 50-minute-long speech.