Amarinder dares Badals to swap properties

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today dared the Badals to swap their properties with his and accused them of being the "real Maharajas" of the day.
Amarinder alleged that Badals have "amassed" crores worth of assets and properties during the past 10 years allegedly built with public money, which they had procured by "plundering and looting the state".
"I had offered to swap my properties with yours several years ago, and I am more than willing to do it now," he said, observing that the assets of the Badals had expanded to unimaginable proportions in the past 10 years.
Reacting to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's latest personal attack on his 'royal roots', Amarinder said his small inherited legacy was no match for the Badals' empire, which they had amassed and grown to become multi-billionaires during the last 10 years of their rule in Punjab.

"From their personal residential properties to their multi-crore businesses in hospitality, transport, media, etc, the Badals's assets defy even my royal imagination," said Amarinder, daring the chief minister to accept his challenge to swap their properties.
The last 10 years, he pointed out, "had witnessed unprecedented growth in the Badals' business empire, which consisted of the Orbit Resorts, their multiple transport companies, the media companies, etc owned by them."

He said, "The latest addition of the lavish Oberoi Sukhvilas Resort, in which Sukhbir Badal and his wife are the majority stakeholders, had led to the expansion of their assets multi fold".

Amarinder alleged that "this growth has come at the cost of the development and progress of Punjab and its people, who had been plunged into ruin and despair by Badal and his anti-people policies, including the Punjabi Suba movement, and the mafias run by his government."
Meanwhile, former Akali Dal leader Kamaljit Singh Karwal, a close associate of the Bains brothers, met Amarinder Singh here and expressed his desire to join the party along with his supporters. He is an independent councillor from Ludhiana.