PS Badal

Prakash Singh Badal's active participation in political life goes back to the days before independence.

Born on December 8, 1927, in Abul Khurana Villge, Faridkot district (Punjab), Prakash Singh Badal's active participation in political life goes back to the days before independence.

Badal was elected to the Punjab State Assembly for the first time in 1957, for a second time in the mid-term poll of 1969, and again in 1972. In 1969, he was taken into the cabinet as Development Minister. He got the opportunity of becoming the Chief Minister from March 1970, to June 1971. From 1972 to 1975, he was leader of the opposition in the Assembly. Badal was detained during the state of emergency for a period of two years i.e. from 1975 to 1977.

In March 1977, he was elected to the Indian Parliament from Faridkot. He was Union Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation from March  to June 1977 and then became Chief Minister of Punjab again (1977-1980). In 1980 and 1985 he was again elected to the State Assembly, where he was leader of the opposition. After the February 1997 state election, he became Chief Minister a third time, being chosen by the Akali Dal party.

On November 22, 2003, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau filed a charge-sheet alleging that former Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, his wife Surinder Kaur Badal and son Sukhbir Singh Badal had piled up assets worth Rs 4,326 crores during the five years the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) alliance was in power in the State.

Like every other corruption scandal to come out of Punjab in recent years, there is something surreal about the numbers involved in this one. Moreover it appears to be a case of political vendetta where Badal’s arch-rival Capt. Amarinder Singh is bent on taking revenge.