Chandigarh:
Good economics may not always serve good in politics. And this proved right in Punjab's Finance Minister Manpreet Badal's case as he was sacked from the Cabinet and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for indiscipline by none other than party president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.
With this the festering divide in the Badal family is now out in the open.
It was alleged that Manpreet, kept pushing for a debt waiver which the government said didn't exist.
''I actually demanded his resignation rather than him demanding mine. This is not the Akali Dal I grew up in. This is Sukhbir's Akali Dal,'' said Manpreet Badal.
Reacting to Manpreet's counter allegations, Sukhbir Badal said, ''We are all loyal soldiers of the party. For us the interest of the party is above individual interests.''
At present Punjab is reeling under a Rs 70,000 crore debt. The Centre, however, has offered to waive half of it but only if Punjab is ready to do away with the subsidies and adopt fiscal reforms.
But, with barely a year to go for the Assembly elections, Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and Sukhbir are not ready to heed the Centre's proposal as withdrawing subsidies will directly affect their vote bank.
But with Manpreet choosing to disagree with his family members, the power tussle appears to have begun. Analysts are even predicting that Manpreet could become a political adversary to the rest of the group.
He already has the support of four MLAs and a considerable following in the Malwa belt and could very well launch a new party successfully.
So does it mean we can see another family splitting over politics?