As Congress protests, Badal reaches out to receive memorandum

Chandigarh, June 23 (IANS) At a time when the bitterness among senior Akali Dal leaders and the opposition Congress is at its peak in Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal himself went to receive a memorandum of demands from protesting Congress leaders at his residence here.

Badal walked up to the gate of his official bungalow to receive the memorandum from a delegation of Congress legislators led by Sunil Jakhar, leader of opposition.

Punjab Congress president Pratap Singh Bajwa was also part of the delegation.

On the demands raised by the Congress leaders, Badal assured them that the state government would seriously take a call on all the issues raised by them.

A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said Badal personally went up to the main gate to receive the memorandum from the leaders.

Jakhar and other leaders were staging a protest over their demands outside Badal's residence.

Badal assured them that he would soon convene a meeting with the officers of the various departments concerned in light of the memorandum submitted by them before taking a final decision.

The demands include payment of cane arrears of Rs.183 crore to farmers, rehabilitation of drug addicts presently lodged in jails, property tax and release of payments under various schemes to the Scheduled Caste beneficiaries.

He asked the Congress legislators to bring their genuine issues to him for early resolution.

Expressing remorse over the action of Congress MLAs to stage a sit-in in front of his residence, Badal said he would have been more happy to offer them a cup of tea had they came inside his residence to discuss the issues in a better manner.

"Showing his inability to extend necessary courtesies at this moment, the chief minister extended an invitation to them to come some other day either to his office or residence to have a detailed discussion on these issues," the spokesperson said.