Punjab govt committed to fulfil poll promises: Manpreet Badal

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said today the state government was committed to fulfil all election promises made to farmers and the poor.

Addressing a Baisakhi function here, Badal said the state government will waive the debt of all small and marginal farmers.

He accused the previous Akali Dal-BJP dispensation of making only empty promises and not waiving the farm debt. He accused them of pushing Punjab into a financial mess.

He said the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government was working to improve the financial state of Punjab.

At a separate Baisakhi function at Talwandi Sabo, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed the process to implement the Swaminathan Commission report - which has stated that farmers should get an MSP 50 per cent higher than the comprehensive cost of production - has been expedited and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured him about its early implementation.

He said the SAD had been consistently urging the central government to find a solution to the farm crisis.

"Our MPs have met BJP chief Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed to them that the only way to save farmers from the prevailing crisis was to implement the Swaminathan report without delay. The PM assured us the report would be implemented soon," he added.

He also demanded that Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu be sacked immediately for his alleged involvement in a three-decade-old road rage case.